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GUIDE 



TO 



THE SAYIOUR. 




WRITTEN FOR THE AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, AND 
REVISED BT THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 

NO. 146 CHESTNUT STREET. 






Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1846, b$ 
The American Sunday-school Union, in the Clerk's Offices 
of the District Court of the Eastern District of PennsyhaniUi 






4 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



In the experience of many years in the 
Sabbath-school, I have often felt the want 
of a little book to place in the hands of 
children whose minds have been seriously 
impressed by the Holy Spirit. Every 
superintendent, and most teachers, have 
seen young persons in that state of mind 
in which they need to be familiarly in- 
structed in the way of life. Many excel- 
lent books have been written to guide 
the sinner to the Saviour, but most of them 
are designed for readers older than the 
children in our Sabbath-schools, and they 
also contain much valuable instruction not 
essential for the youthful inquirer to re- 
ceive. 

1* 5 



6 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 

To prepare a little work that a teacher 
may give to any serious child in his class, 
so simple that the children can readily 
understand every word in it, sufficiently 
full and explicit, and yet so brief as to 
secure an attentive perusal, is not an easy 
task, and the writer of this treatise is by 
no means confident that he has succeeded 
in the attempt. But it has been a delight- 
ful employment to throw into this form 
the instruction which he has often given 
to the young, and he commends it to the 
Spirit of grace, with the earnest prayer that 
it may lead many lambs to the fold of 
Christ. 



COMING TO CHEIST. 



CHAPTER I. 

JL child 9 s thoughts of coming to Christ — Going to 
heaven — The Saviour's willingness to save — The 
design of this book. 

Many a child has thought, " If I 
had lived in the days when our Sa- 
viour was on the earth, I would have 
run to his arms to receive his fond 
embrace." 

Those must have been happy chil- 
dren whom he took on his knees, and 
blessed, as none but Jesus could bless. 

When I was a child and read the 
story of Jesus and his disciples, and 
how much he loved John, who leaned 
on his breast at the table, I often 

7 



8 : COMING TO CHRIST. 

wished that I had been John, to lean 
my head on his bosom, and feel that 
he was my best friend. A child who 
reads and hears of heaven, where the 
saints and angels dwell in happiness 
with God, where the songs of praise 
are going up for ever from the glad 
voices of the blest, often wishes that 
he may go there and become an angel 
among angels, and sing sweet songs 
of praise for ever and ever. 

Wherever the child may live who 
reads this book, I know that he wishes 
to go to heaven. If I should come and 
sit down by your side, and taking you 
by the hand should say, " Do you 
wish to go to heaven, and be with 
Christ when you die ?" you would 
answer, " O yes, sir, I want to go to 
heaven." And if I should go on to 
speak of the loveliness of the Saviour, 
his kindness to the young, his plea- 



COMING TO CHRIST. 9 

sure in their company, and his desire 
to have them come to him and be blest, 
you would feel your young heart beat- 
ing quicker, and you would long to 
have him for your Saviour, and hea- 
ven for your eternal home. It would 
be a strange child, indeed, who does 
not wish to be saved! 

And the Saviour is just as willing 
to listen to your voice, and have pity 
upon you, as he was to bless those 
children at Jerusalem, eighteen hun- 
dred years ago, who sung hosannas 
in the temple. The arms of the Sa- 
viour are as wide open to-day, and 
his heart is as ready to love you to- 
day, as when those sweetest of all 
words fell from his heavenly lips, 
" Suffer little children to come unto 
me, and forbid them not, for of such 
is the kingdom of heaven." 

I speak of coming to Christ as if 1 



10 COMING TO CHRIST. 

were almost the same thing as going 
to heaven, because I would have you 
feel that there is no other way of go- 
ing to heaven but by the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and because heaven itself is 
not worth enjoying unless he is there. 
I would have you feel as did a little 
child who was asked, when he was 
lying on his dying bed, where he was 
going ? 

" To heaven," said the child. 

" And why," asked one of his 
friends, " do you wish to go there?" 

" Because Christ is there," he an- 
swered. 

" But what if Christ should leave 
heaven ?" 

" Well," said the child, "I shall go 
with him." 

It is heaven to be with Christ. It 
will be very much like heaven to have 
Christ for your friend while you are 



COMING TO CHRIST. 11 

here on the earth, and the more you 
love the Saviour, the happier will you 
be here, and the happier will you be 
when you come to die. It is to lead 
you to this Saviour, to show you the 
way by which you must come to Him, 
if you would find him and be saved, 
that I ask you to attend to what I am 
about to write. 

You say that you want to go to 
heaven, but do you feel that you are 
prepared to go there ? If, this very 
day, or to-night, God should call you 
to stand before him in judgment, do 
you feel that you are ready to meet 
his face ? If he should take you to 
heaven this moment, are you prepared 
to begin its songs, with saints and an- 
gels, around the throne ? Perhaps 
not. And if you are not ready to 
go to heaven now, the first thing you 
should learn is the way to be saved. 



12 COMING TO CHRIST. 

You need this more than any thing 
else, and you will be poor and miser- 
able for ever until you find the salva- 
tion of your precious soul. 

To show you what you must do to 
be saved, is the object I have before 
me in writing these pages, and if you 
will attend to the instructions you 
receive while you read, and will pray 
to God to enable you to understand 
and to feel the truth which is ad- 
dressed to you, perhaps this little 
book will be the means of leading 
you to Christ ! You ought to give 
your heart to God now, in the morn- 
ing of life, and if you refuse to hear 
the calls which are now made to you, 
and grow up in your sins, your heart 
will become more and more hard- 
ened, and there is great reason to 
fear that you will perish in your 
guilt. It would indeed be most 



COMING TO CHRIST. 13 

dreadful if you should go down to 
hell from the Sabbath-school, — the 
gate of heaven ! Yet many children, 
some perhaps with whom you have 
been acquainted, have perished in the 
midst of these blessings that should 
have led them to God ! 




2 



14 COMING TO CHRIST. 



CHAPTER II. 



The dying boy and his mother — The mother's hope 
— The Bible — The Sabbath — Secret prayer. 

In the first place you should feel 
that you are a sinner. You know 
that you have sinned, but you do not 
feel it. 

Once I was sent for to see a sick 
boy. As soon as I sat down by his 
bedside to talk with him about his 
soul, I asked him if he loved God? 
His mother was sitting near, and did 
not wait for John to answer, but 
spoke up for him, and said, 

" O yes, John was always a good 
boy." * 

Now the mother had never told 
John any thing about his having a 
wicked heart; and because he had 
always been kind to his mother 



COMING TO CHRIST- 15 

and pleasant to his play-fellows, she 
thought he must be good and love 
God, and that he would surely go to 
heaven when he died. But as I knew 
the Bible taught us that we are 
all children of wrath, that the heart 
of man, until it is made new, is at 
enmity with God, and that, unless we 
are born again, we cannot enter into 
the kingdom of heaven, I began to 
ask John some questions about the 
state of his heart towards God and 
towards His law, and it was very 
easy to see, in a moment, that his 
heart was full of sin. He soon found 
that he was in the gall of bitterness 
and in the bond of iniquity. His 
eyes were now opened so that he saw 
his sins in their true light. In other 
words, he was led to feel that he was 
a sinner in the sight of God, and in 
danger of death and hell. 



16 COMING TO CHRIST. 

Not many days afterwards, his dis- 
tress on account of his sins became 
so great that his mother was sur- 
prised that her boy, whom she sup- 
posed to be quite good, should feel so 
bad about his sins. It pleased God 
to make this child sensible of his 
wickedness, so that for many days 
and nights he wept aloud, and often 
cried out to God to have mercy upon 
him and to forgive his sins ; and he 
frequently said that he deserved to go 
to hell, he was such a sinner. Yet this 
boy had been a better boy than many 
others. He was probably quite as 
good as you are ; but when he came 
to know his true character, he felt 
that he was a sinner, and must have 
a new heart before he was prepared 
to die. 

Perhaps you have always been call- 
ed a good child by your parents and 



COMING TO CHRIST. 17 

friends, and you may not be so bad as 
many of those who live near you. 
Your parents may not have had occa- 
sion to correct you for doing wrong. 
And this has led you, and perhaps 
has led them, to think that you are not 
very wicked. There are other children 
who do not fear to break the com- 
mandments of God : they will take 
the name of the Lord in vain: they 
will play on the Sabbath-day, and tell 
lies and steal; and because you do 
none of these things you think that 
you are not a sinner ; and some may 
think that you would certainly go to 
heaven if you should die. 

Some years ago a very sweet child 
in my Sabbath-school died very sud- 
denly. She was in her class one 
Sunday morning, and before the next 
Sabbath she was laid in her coffin. I 
called to see her mother, who was a 
2* 



18 COMING TO CHRIST. 

very good woman. She was greatly 
distressed at the death of her beloved 
child. I asked her if she was willing 
that God should take away the dear 
girl whom she loved so tenderly. She 
went on to tell me what comfort she 
had in her dear Martha, and said: 

" Martha was always a very thought- 
ful girl, and would ask me a great 
many questions about her soul, and 
about the future world, and I cannot 
help thinking that she has gone to 
heaven." 

I said to her, " Have you any rea- 
son to think that Martha had ever 
been born again?" 

" No," said she, "I do not know of 
any time when any change took place; 
but then she always seemed to be a 
good child, — a very good child, — and 
I hope she is now in heaven." 

There may be some children whose 



COMING TO CHRIST. 19 

hearts are changed when they are 
very young. But we should remem- 
ber that the heart is deceitful above 
all things and desperately wicked, and 
until it is made new, and our sins par- 
doned, we are altogether unfit to die. 

If your heart had been renewed by 
the grace of God, you would know it. 
And it would be well if you would 
now think of your own feelings, and 
look at your past conduct, to see if 
you do not find the evidence that you 
are still in a state of sin and misery. 
You will certainly never be made 
better until you feel that you are a 
sinner and need to be made holy. 
Perhaps I can show you that you love 
those things which you ought to hate, 
and that you hate many things which 
you ought to love. 

You sometimes read the Bible and 
other good books; but do you love to 



20 COMING TO CHRIST. 

read them ? When you sit down to 
read on the Sabbath, do you choose 
a book that tells you of Jesus Christ 
and the way to be saved? Are such 
good books the pleasantest you can 
find to read ; and do you prefer them 
to the books that amuse you with 
their stories and pictures? I have 
often noticed that children choose 
their books from the library by see- 
ing if the pictures are attractive, rather 
than by inquiring if the instruction 
contained in them will do them good. 
And when you read the Bible, does 
it awaken pleasing thoughts in your 
mind ? Does it make you happy to 
read of the holiness of God, of his 
displeasure at sin, and his delight in 
the worship of those who are holy? 
The Bible is God's word, and you 
should love it because it makes you 
acquainted with his will. Is it delight- 



COMING TO CHRIST. 21 

ful to know what the will of the Lord 
is? And do you love to study the 
word of God that you may learn what 
he would have you do ? If you love 
your parents, you are glad to know 
what they wish you to do, and then 
you are glad to do it; and if your 
heart is right, you come to the Bible 
with a true desire to learn what your 
heavenly Father wishes, and you wish 
to do as he requires. But most 
children read the Bible for the sake 
of its stories, or because they are 
taught that it is their duty to read it ; 
or because they are required by their 
parents or teachers to read it, and 
not on account of the pleasure they 
find in studying its sacred pages. 
But if the heart is right with God, 
there is no book in the world that is 
so precious as the Bible. To the 
pious soul it is the happiest employ- 



22 COMING TO CHRIST. 

ment to read of God and of heaven, 
to learn about the Lord Jesus Christ 
and the way of salvation through his 
atoning blood. " O, how love I thy 
law!" said the psalmist, "it is my 
meditation all the day." " How 
sweet are thy words unto my taste ! 
yea, sweeter than honey to my 
mouth. "* So sweet are the words 
of the Lord to all who love him ; and 
if you do not find such pleasure in 
the Bible, it is because you do not 
love the Bible nor the great God who 
gave the Bible to us, that we might 
know his holy will. You are still in 
your sins. 

How precious is the Sabbath to 
those who delight to have communion 
with God. On that holy day we 
lay aside our cares and the business 

* Ps. cxix. 97, 103. 



COMING TO CHRIST* 23 

or pleasures that may employ our 
thoughts and time on the other days 
of the week, while we give the sacred 
hours of the Sabbath to the worship 
and service of God. It is a day of 
joy and peace to those who love the 
Lord. But the wicked do not rejoice 
in the light of the Sabbath. Its 
duties are not to their taste. Espe- 
cially is it so with young persons. 
They, whose hearts are not right in 
the sight of God, do not rejoice in 
the return of this holy day. It puts 
an end, for a little while, to the plea- 
sures of the week. Their sports, in 
which they take so much delight, 
must be interrupted, and they must 
spend the day in pursuits that are far 
from being such as they love. They 
may abstain from work and from 
play, and may sit quietly in the house, 
or go to the place of public worship, 



24 COMING TO CHRIST. 

and attend upon the duties of religion, 
as if their hearts were really in the 
service of God; but the retirement 
of the family, or the worship of the 
sanctuary, does not give any true 
pleasure to the unconverted heart. 

And you will feel this the more 
deeply, when you bear in mind that 
heaven is an everlasting Sabbath, and 
that those who are there will spend 
eternity in the service and praise of 
God. Does it please you to think of 
being always thus employed ? 

And if the holiness of heaven 
does not win your heart, it must be 
that your heart is not hoty. A Sab- 
bath on earth is a weariness to you ; 
and an everlasting Sabbath in heaven 
you could not endure. It may be 
said with truth, though you probably 
will not believe it, that if you should 
go to heaven with your heart as 



COMING TO CHRIST. 25 

unholy as it now is, you would find 
so little there to please you, and so 
much to grieve and offend you, that 
you would desire to leave its sacred 
courts. 

And still another thought I would 
suggest on this point. We desire to 
converse with those whom we love. 
Nothing is more pleasant than to 
spend an hour in the society of one 
who is dear to us, to tell him how we 
feel. And especially, if we are in 
distress of any kind, we love to go to 
a friend and tell him our trouble and 
seek relief. The friend of sinners is 
the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you love 
to go to Him with your troubles, to 
pour out your heart in prayer before 
him, and to find relief by looking to 
him for help ? Do you love to pray ? 
It is very likely that you have formed 
the habit of saying your prayers, and 

3 



26 COMING TO CHRIST. 

it would be strange if a youth in a 
Sabbath-school did not daily attempt 
to pray to the God who made him, 
who keeps him alive, and before 
whom he must soon stand in judg- 
ment ! I do not ask if you say your 
prayers every night and morning. I 
take it for granted that you do. But 
do you find it a source of comfort and 
pleasure to go away by yourself, in 
some retired spot, where no eye can 
see you but God's, and no ear can 
hear you but His, and there to pray 
to Him who listens to his children 
when they cry ? Prayer is the high- 
est privilege which the good enjoy 
on earth, and if you do not enjoy 
prayer, it is because you are not 
good. This is a truth which ought 
to make a deep impression on your 
heart. God is pleased when children 
pray to him, and if you do not love 



COMING TO CHRIST. 27 

to call upon His name, it shows 
plainly that your heart is not right in 
his sight. 

Now look back upon these ques- 
tions which I have asked you, and 
see if they do not lead you to under- 
stand the true state of your heart. 
You do not love to study the Bible ; 
you do not love the duties of the Sab- 
bath; you do not love to pray; and is 
it not plain that you do not love God? 

But what is this ! A child that 
does not love God, the best of all 
beings ! The God whom angels wor- 
ship ; w T hose presence makes heaven 
a place of happiness, and whose smile 
is the source of the highest joy ! It 
would be strange indeed if you did 
not love your parents, who have 
brought you up, nursed you in sick- 
ness, supplied your daily wants, and 
given you so many good things. But 



28 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



God is more to you than earthly pa- 
rents. He has done far more for you 
than they have done, or can do ; and 
when he looks down from his throne 
and beholds you in your sins, despis- 
ing his love, and refusing to give him 
your heart, he exclaims, 

" Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O 
earth, I have nourished and brought 
up children, and they have rebelled 
against me!"* 

* Isa. i. 2. 




COMING TO CHRIST. . 29 



CHAPTER III. 

A great sinner — Charles Richardson, a good boy 
with a wicked heart — Why your sins are so 
great — The number of your sins — The Saviour 
rejected — The Spirit grieved — The resolution, 

I trust you are willing to admit 
that you are a sinner; that you have 
broken the laws of God, and are 
therefore under his wrath and curse. 
This is true of all men until they are 
born again. We are all the children 
of wrath. But you should feel not 
only that you are a sinner, but that 
you are a great sinner. 

It may be said by some who read 
this book, " I am not a great sinner. 
There are many much worse than I 
am. I never tell lies, and never take 
the name of God in vain, and never 
3* 



30 COMING TO CHRIST. 

play on the Sabbath-day, and never 
quarrel with my companions, and 
never disobey my parents. I read 
my Bible and say my prayers and go 
to the Sunday-school and try to be 
good, and I do not think that I am a 
great sinner." 

Do you love God with all your 
heart? Think of this, and bear in 
mind that it is the state of your heart 
towards God that we are looking at; 
and if this heart of yours is full of 
enmity to God, you are a great sin- 
ner, and you ought to be willing to 
see and to feel it. 

If you were in the practice of any 
of those vices which you just now 
said that you never indulge in, it 
would not be needful to prove that 
you are a great sinner. But there 
are some reasons why this very fact 
keeps you ignorant of your true cha- 



COMING TO CHRIST. 31 

racter. We are so much inclined to 
judge of ourselves and others by out- 
ward conduct, that we do not try our- 
selves by the light of God's holy 
word, to see in what character we 
shall appear when we stand before 
Him w r ho cannot look upon sin but 
with abhorrence. 

Charles Richardson was one of the 
best boys — perhaps I may say that 
he was the best boy, that I ever knew. 
I mean that he said and did as little 
that was wrong as any child with 
whom I was ever acquainted. At 
school and at home he was always 
peaceful, kind and pleasant to all. He 
was obedient to his parents, and 
would always try to do what he 
thought they would wish him to do, 
whether they had given him any com- 
mand or not. Although I was a boy 
with him and played with him every 



32 COMING TO CHRIST. 

day, I never heard him make use of a 
bad word, or a vulgar or wicked ex- 
pression of any kind, nor did I ever 
know him to do any thing which 
would give pain to any one. He 
seemed to take pleasure in making 
others happy, and would give up in a 
moment, when others wished to have 
things done in a different way from 
that which he had proposed. Of 
course, every one loved Charles, and 
it was a common remark among the 
children, " Charles is always good ; 
he always gives up." But when 
Charles was about fourteen years 
old, he was made to feel that he had 
a wicked heart! Even this good 
boy felt that he was a sinner, a very 
great sinner, and he cried out in dis- 
tress of mind, " God be merciful to 
me a sinner." This was the disco- 
very which he made of his own heart 



COMING TO CHRIST. 33 

when the Holy Spirit awakened him 
to a sense of his condition. So far 
from being good, he found that he 
had a very bad heart. He was an 
enemy of God, and had no heart to 
love that which was good ; and he 
was distressed with the view which 
he obtained of himself. 

The Bible says that " we must be 
born again.' 7 Until the heart has been 
renewed by the Holy Spirit, it is 
offensive to God ; and it was this fact 
which so greatly distressed Charles 
Richardson. He prayed earnestly to 
God to forgive his sins, and give him 
a new heart; and the anguish of his 
soul on account of his sins was so 
great, that any one who saw and 
heard him, would suppose that he 
must have been a very wicked boy. 
Now, why was this ? Did others 
know him better than he knew him- 



34 COMING TO CHRIST. 

self? No ; the fact is, that his heart 
was full of sin. A though he had been 
restrained from wandering into many 
of the evil ways of youth, and had 
been distinguished for his moral con- 
duct; yet the eye of God can read 
the heart ; and as the heart is, so is 
the child. And the discovery which 
this youth made of the state of his 
heart, is the same which every uncon- 
verted child would make of himself, 
if he should be awakened by the 
Holy Spirit to a true sense of his 
sins. 

The reason why you do not admit 
this fact, and feel the force of it, is, 
that your mind is under the power 
of sin. Because you love sin, it does 
not seem to you to be an evil thing. 
You know not your own self. But 
the Bible reveals your character, and 
also shows you the great evil of sin ; 



COMING TO CHRIST. 35 

and it is in the light of divine truth 
that you should contemplate yourself, 
in making preparation to meet God 
in judgment. 

Consider then the greatness and 
the number of your sins. You have 
broken the law of God. That law 
is holy, just and good. It was given 
to promote your highest happiness, 
as well as the glory of Him who gave 
it; and if you had never broken that 
law, you would have been as happy 
as the angels, for ever. When you 
sin against that law you sin against 
your own soul, and prepare yourself 
for future misery. Yet this is not 
the worst feature of your sins. They 
are committed against God, who is 
infinitely holy, and who desires his 
creatures to be holy as he is holy. 
Not only did He make you, but he 
also preserves you by his power from 



36 COMING TO CHRIST. 

day to day. He is therefore always 
by you, on your right hand and on 
your left; and every sin which you 
commit is known to Him who seeth 
in secret. If you think that God 
does not take notice of what you are 
doing, you forget that "the eyes of 
the Lord are in every place, behold- 
ing the evil and the good."* You 
cannot flee from the presence of God. 
" If I ascend up into heaven," says 
king David, " Thou art there : If I 
make my bed in hell, behold thou art 
there. If I take the wings of the 
morning and dwell in the uttermost 
parts of the sea; even there shall 
thy hand lead me, and thy right hand 
shall hold me."t The holy God is 
thus always near you; and every time 
that you do wrong he knows and dis- 
approves it ! You sin in the imme- 

* Prov. xv. 3. f Ps. cxxxix. 8—10. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 37 

diate presence of a holy God ! And 
the knowledge of God extends to the 
thoughts and intents of the heart. 
He knows how you feel towards him. 
It is wicked for you to hate your 
brother, even if you do not strike him, 
or call him by a bad name. Cain 
was a murderer in his heart before 
he slew his brother. And the God 
of heaven knows when you hate any 
one, though you may not make your 
hatred known to the world. 

And more than this : it is the evil 
purpose of the heart that is sinful in 
the sight of a pure and holy God. If 
you design to break the Sabbath, or 
do any thing else that is wrong, God 
regards it as if it were already done ! 
You have sinned against Him by 
indulging the intent to "do that which 
is offensive to him, and he must be 
grieved with your wickedness. 
4 



38 COMING TO CHRIST. 

That God, whom you offend by 
your sins, has a right to the love of 
your heart, and to the service of your 
life. Every desire of your soul ought 
to be for Him and his glory; and you 
should strive every day and every 
hour to please him by doing that 
which he requires. As your Creator 
and preserver, — as your God, he has 
a perfect right to this service ; and it 
is rebellion against the King of kings, 
— it is rebellion against the throne of 
God, — for you to refuse to give him 
your heart. I do not now say any 
thing of that great love which has 
been shown toward you by your 
Father in heaven. That love increases 
the guilt of your rebellion, and will 
aggravate your condemnation if you 
die in your sins ; but God has a right 
to your heart, and you are bound 
to love and obey him. It is great 



COMING TO CHRIST. 39 

wickedness to cast off the authority 
of God, and refuse to have him to 
rule over you, for He made you, and 
holds you up from falling into hell ! 

And the greatness of your guilt 
will be more clearly seen when you 
consider what privileges you have 
enjoyed, so that you have no excuse 
for your sins. It is proper to look at 
these things, because those who have 
had little light and few opportunities 
of learning the will of God, are not 
expected to do as well as those who 
have had line upon line and precept 
upon precept. This truth is clearly 
taught by the Saviour, when he says, 
" The servant that knew his master's 
will and did it not shall be beaten 
with many stripes;" that is, he shall 
be punished with more severity than 
the one who knew it not. 

The child who has been born in 



40 COMING TO CHRIST. 

the midst of the light of the gospel, 
who has had the Bible to read from 
his early years, and has been to the 
house of God to hear the preaching 
of the gospel; who has enjoyed the 
instructions of Christian parents, or 
of the Sabbath-school, and has been 
oftentimes invited to come to Christ, 
forsaking all his evil ways and turn- 
ing unto God with all his heart, — 
such a child has no excuse for living 
in sin. He knows his duty. He 
knows what God requires of him, 
and he deserves to be punished if he 
refuses to obey his Creator in the 
days of his youth. 

If he finally goes to hell, it will 
greatly increase the misery of his 
soul, that while here on earth he 
enjoyed the Sabbath, and all the 
means of grace which come with that 
holy day, to teach him the way to 



COMING TO CHRIST. 41 

heaven. He will then feel that his 
privileges make his sins greater, if, in 
the enjoyment of them all, he refuses 
to love Him who has thus supplied 
him with the means of salvation. 

You are this youth ! You have 
had all these privileges, and perhaps, 
in addition to them, you have the 
counsels and prayers of pious parents, 
who have often urged upon you the 
duty of loving God with all your 
heart. If so, how great must be 
your guilt ! How hard must be your 
heart, that has never yet been moved 
by the instructions and entreaties, 
the threatenings and the promises 
which you have heard ! You may be 
thought to be good by your friends ; 
and you may not be so wicked in 
your outward conduct as many others 
around you ; but the heart that resists 

the light and the love which you have 

4* 



42 COMING TO CHRIST. 

enjoyed, must be very wicked in the 
sight of a perfectly holy God. 

Think also of the number of your 
sins. You cannot count them. You 
cannot call to mind one of a thou- 
sand of your transgressions. But if 
God should set them in order before 
your eyes,* the sight would astonish 
you, if it did not overwhelm you. 
And it would be very well for you to 
sit down to a calm and deliberate re- 
view of your past life, and attempt to 
number your sins, of thought and 
word and deed. 

The wicked feelings of your heart 
are to be numbered. Your pride, that 
no one else but yourself knows of, has 
often been indulged. You have been 
selfish and ungenerous when no one 
else knew that such feelings were in 

* Ps. 1. 21. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 43 

your heart. You have felt a secret dis- 
like towards God and his word, and all 
divine things, when you have not men- 
tioned it to any one. You have had 
sinful thoughts that I cannot name to 
you, but which will come to your re- 
collection, when you really try to call 
your past sins to remembrance. 

Your wicked words have been 
many. You have often spoken un- 
kindly to your companions, perhaps 
to your parents, and every word has 
been recorded, and you must give ac- 
count thereof in the day of judgment.* 
It would indeed be an awful thing if 
to these were to be added untruths 
that you have told, or profane and 
filthy words that you have uttered ! 
These will meet you at the last day, 
and you should reckon them now. 

* Matt. xii. 36. 



44 COMING TO CHRIST. 

And your sinful actions — how great 
is the sum of them ! Disobedience 
to parents, neglect of the Bible and 
the means of grace, the wrongs which 
you have done to your companions, 
and a thousand other things which 
you will recall, are all to be set down 
in the list of sins, which will swell 
more and more the longer you dwell 
upon it. 

Every day, every hour, every wak- 
ing moment of your life past, you 
have been sinning against God, doing 
the things you ought not to do, or 
leaving undone the things you ought 
to do ; and if the long catalogue of 
your iniquities were now spread out 
before heaven and earth, it would fill 
you with confusion and shame. 

Yet I have not named the most 
aggravated sin of your life, and that 
which above all others now rests 



COMING TO CHRIST. 45 

upon your soul to condemn you. I 
mean your refusal to come to Christ! 
" God so loved the world that he gave 
his only begotton Son, that whoso- 
ever believeth in him should not per- 
ish, but have everlasting life."* This 
great salvation was provided for sin- 
ners such as you are, and this Saviour 
has been offered to you as your Sa- 
viour, and you have often been urged 
to accept him, and be saved by the 
merits of his blood. But you have 
never been willing to be saved ! You 
have never accepted the offer of ever- 
lasting life which has been so freely 
made. You have rejected the Sa- 
viour and despised his dying love ! 

The Holy Spirit has come to your 
heart, and made you sensible of your 
sins. You feel now that you are a 

* John iii. 16. 



46 COMING TO CHRIST. 

sinner, that you have often offended 
God, and incurred his displeasure. 
But you do not repent of your sins 
and forsake them : and perhaps you 
will add to the sin of refusing the 
Saviour, the sin of grieving the Holy 
Spirit, thereby causing him to depart 
from you. The offer of pardon is 
now repeated, and you are asked to 
accept of Jesus Christ as the only 
Saviour of your soul. The sins of 
which you have been guilty in so 
many years now gone, have risen up 
to condemn you : and unless they are 
washed away by the blood of Christ 
they will finally sink you into eternal 
wo. But the Saviour waits to be 
gracious ! 

" See Israel's gentle Shepherd stands, 
With all engaging charms ; 
Hark ! how he calls the tender lambs, 
And folds them in his arms." 



COMING TO CHRIST. 47 

There is no love like that which 
the Saviour feels towards those for 
whom he died. He asks you to give 
him your heart norv, and great will 
be your guilt if ) r ou should refuse to 
be his when he thus invites you to 
make him your friend. 

I beseech you not to neglect his 
call. Think of your many sins, 
and of the misery they will bring 
upon you through all eternity, unless 
they are forgiven; and then behold 
that Saviour with open arms waiting 
for you to come to him and be 
blessed. " Now is the accepted time, 
behold, now is the day of salva- 
tion."* 

Perhaps you are now prepared to 
understand your state, and the dan- 
gers to which you are exposed. If 

* 2 Cor. vi. 2. 



48 COMING TO CHRIST. 

it be true that you are living in sin, 
and every hour is adding to the num- 
ber and the greatness of your sins; if 
it be true that every sin deserves 
God's wrath and curse, both in this 
life and in that which is to come, you 
are in danger of perishing under a 
dreadful load of guilt. If you have 
broken the law of God, rejected the 
love of the dear Saviour, and grieved 
the Holy Spirit who would renew 
your heart, how great must be your 
sinfulness, and how deep your con- 
demnation if you perish ! 

When the Spirit of God awakened 
Charles Richardson to a sense of his 
sinfulness and his danger, Charles 
went to a friend and asked him, 
" What must I do to be saved?" 
He saw that the longer he remained 
in sin, the worse he was becoming, 
the more unfit for heaven, and the 



COMING TO CHRIST. 49 

more fit for hell, and he resolved to 
seek the salvation of his soul. He 
sought and found the Saviour. You 
have read the parable of the prodigal 
son in the fifteenth chapter of Luke. 
But it will be well for you to turn to 
the Bible, and before you proceed any 
further read that story again. 

•Ife 4fe dfc 4fe 4fe Jfe 

You perceive that when the young 
man felt that he was perishing with 
hunger, in a strange land, while there 
was enough in his father's house and 
to spare, he said to himself, * I will 
arise and go to my father, and will 
say unto him, Father, I have sinned 
against heaven and before thee, and am 
no more worthy to be called thy son." 
This was a wise resolution. It was 
the means of saving his life. He 
would have starved in that far distant 
country, if he had not determined to 
5 



50 COMING TO CHRIST. 

go back and seek his father's house 
and his father's forgiveness. And if 
you have been led by the Holy Spirit 
to feel that your soul is in danger of 
death ; if you feel that you are a great 
sinner, that the wrath of God abides 
upon you, and that you are liable 
every moment to die in sin and go 
down to dwell with devouring fire, 
is it not of the highest importance 
that you should now resolve to seek 
the Lord with all your heart? Will 
you not anxiously inquire, "What 
must I do to be saved ?" And as 
we proceed to answer this inquiry, 
we will pray that God will enable 
you to obtain salvation in the only 
way in which it is offered. 




COMING TO CHRIST. . 51 



CHAPTER IV. 

William's repentance — James Wilson's repentance 
— The difference — What is true repentance? 

William disobeyed his father and 
was to be punished. His father was 
a stern, severe man, and when his 
children offended him, he was in the 
habit of punishing them in such a way 
as to cause them to remember it. As 
William's offence at this time was one 
that would greatly displease his 
father, the boy trembled and was 
greatly afraid when he was called into 
his presence to be punished. William 
knew that he was about to suffer, and 
falling down on his knees, he said 
that he was very sorry for his fault, 
and he would never do so again if his 
father would forgive him only this 



52 COMING TO CHRIST. 

time. He shed many tears, and said 
he had been a wicked boy, and he 
knew that he deserved to be punished, 
but he would be good in future, and 
would never give his father occasion 
to find fault with him. The father's 
heart was touched with the child's 
tears and declarations of sorrow for 
his wrong; and though he had the 
rod in his hand, he laid it aside, and 
said that he would see if William 
would be a better boy in time to 
come. As soon as this wicked boy 
was out of his father's sight, he dried 
up his tears, laughed about his 
" father's letting him off so easily," as 
he said, and very soon was as happy 
at his play as if nothing had occurred. 
He cared not at all for his sin. He 
feared the rod, and was glad that he 
had escaped without feeling it. This 
was William's repentance. 



COMING TO CHRIST. - 53 

Let me tell you of another youth. 
His name was James Wilson, and 
his father was a very tender-hearted 
man, who was always greatly grieved 
when he had to punish his children. 
But as he loved his children, he 
always did punish them when he 
thought they deserved to be punished. 
One day James had been led into bad 
company, and had broken one of his 
father's commands, and the offence 
was of such a nature that Mr. Wilson 
thought it would not be right for him 
to pass it by without notice. He 
called James into his chamber and 
told him that after having thought 
much of his misconduct, he had deter- 
mined to chastise him, with the hope 
of preserving him from such evil 
again. But Mr. Wilson loved James, 
and it was more painful to the father 
to inflict the chastisement than for 
5* 



54 COMING TO CHRIST. 

the son to receive it. Mr. Wilson 
wept while he was chastising his son. 
James looked up and saw that his 
father was weeping, and his heart was 
melted at the sight. "Whip me, 
father," said he, "but don't cry." 
James was sorry, not because he had 
to be punished, but because he had 
grieved his father's heart. And when 
i he thought of the sorrow which his 
sin had given to one whom he ought 
to love, and for whose happiness he 
ought so much to care, he was deter- 
mined that he would try from that 
time forward to give him no occasion 
to grieve on account of the miscon- 
duct of his son James. And Mr. 
Wilson had no reason for punishing 
him after that. The child was more 
obedient and correct in all his con- 
duct than he had ever been before. 
This was James Wilson's repentance. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 55 

The difference in the two cases 
mentioned is very clear. The first 
was sorry because he had to be 
punished: the second was sorry 
because he had done wrong and 
had grieved his father. 

When you hear of repentance, it 
probably seems to you to be some- 
thing beyond the comprehension of 
the mind of one so young as you are, 
and you do not look upon it as a 
duty which is now required of you. 
But you have heard the words of the 
Saviour, " Except ye repent ye shall 
all likewise perish ;"* and you ought 
to feel that unless you repent, you 
will certainly go down to hell. Hence 
the infinite importance of understand- 
ing clearly what repentance is. 

We very properly think of it as 

* Luke xiii. 3. 



56 COMING TO CHRIST. 

implying deep sorrow on account of 
sin; and if that is sincere, and if it is 
felt in view of the true nature of sin; it 
is that godly repentance which is re- 
quired of the sinner. The two cases 
mentioned just now will serve to 
illustrate two kinds of repentance. 
The first was sorrow in view of 
punishment ; the other was sorrow in 
view of the nature and effects of sin. 
If a child is brought up to be punished 
for a fault, he is sorry that he has 
been guilty of it ; but if he is sorry 
only because he has been detected 
and is now to suffer, his sorrow is 
not sincere : it is not on account of 
his sin, but on account of the punish- 
ment, that he weeps as if his heart 
were breaking. 

Many persons have been known to 
be greatly distressed in view of sin 
when they were on a sick or dying 



COMING TO CHRIST. 57 

bed. They would weep and pray, 
and confess that they had been great 
sinners, and deserved to go to hell ; 
but they were now sorry that they 
had spent their lives in sin, and if 
God would only restore them to 
health, they would never, never sin 
against Him again ! They would 
make the most solemn promises of 
reformation if they could be spared a 
little longer. And God has often 
taken such persons at their word. 
He has raised them up from their sick- 
beds, and restored them to health; 
and as soon as they have recovered, 
their vows made in sickness have 
been forgotten, and they have gone 
on in sin, worse than ever before. 
They have even been ashamed to 
have it known that they were ever 
alarmed about their souls. 

It is very plain that such sinners 



58 COMING TO CHRIST. 

had no godly sorrow for sin. They 
were afraid to die in sin, because they 
knew they must go to hell ; and this 
alarmed them. They were sorry that 
they were to be punished through all 
eternity, but not sorry that they had 
sinned against the holy God ! 

It is doubtless true, that every 
youth who reads the Bible, and 
attends upon the instructions of the 
Sabbath-school, is sorry, for the same 
reason, that he has broken the law 
of God. He knows that he must 
perish in hell unless God will forgive 
his sins, and therefore he repents. 
"This sorrow is not after a godly 
sort."* If he feels no other sorrow 
than this, he certainly will not be 
saved. 

"When you are told, (as you very 



* 2 Cor. vii. 10. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 59 

often are,) that "God is angry with 
the wicked every day;"* that he will 
send "indignation and wrath, tribula- 
tion and anguish upon every soul that 
doeth evil;"t and that the wicked 
shall " go away into everlasting pu- 
nishment ;"t you feel sorry that you 
are exposed to such awful judgments; 
and while you wish that you had 
never done any thing wicked before, 
you are ready to promise to be good 
all the rest of your lives. And so 
you should feel ; but you should feel 
more than this, or you do not exercise 
that "godly sorrow" which "worketh 
repentance to salvation not to be 
repented of."§ 

The sorrow for sin which you 
should feel, involves a deep sense of 
its evil nature as well as of its dread- 

* Ps. vii. 11. fRom.lt. 8,9. 

t Matt. xxv. 46. § 2 Cor. vii. 10. 



60 COMING TO CHRIST. 

ful consequences. You have seen al- 
ready that it is committed against a 
God of infinite holiness and purity, 
who cannot look upon sin without the 
deepest abhorrence, and therefore it 
is most hateful and odious. If God 
hates it, we should hate it. Be- 
cause the holy God is offended with 
sin and loathes it, we should avoid and 
flee from it. When you look at your 
sins, and compare your own character 
with what the law of God requires 
you to be, you will find reason for 
condemning yourself. This is neces- 
sary to true repentance. 

When a parent calls a child to ac- 
count for having done wrong, it is 
natural for the child to try to justify 
himself, by saying that he " could not 
help it," or, he " did not know that 
it was forbidden." And the worst 
children are always the best il 



COMING TO CHRIST. . 61 

framing excuses for their misconduct. 
But if God summons you to judg- 
ment, and is about to punish you as 
your sins deserve, you will not be 
able to plead any excuse for your 
sins. Your own conscience, that 
now reproves you of sin, assures you 
that you have done wrong; that you 
knew the will of God and might have 
done better, had you not loved sin 
more than you loved the service of 
God. You have read the parable of 
the man who had not on a wedding- 
garment when the master came in, to 
the feast, to see the guests. When he 
was asked why he had not on the proper 
garment, " He was speechless." And 
what could you answer if the Judge 
of all the earth should ask you, why 
you are not prepared to meet him in 
peace ? 

The feeling of self-condemnation is 
6 



62 COMING TO CHRIST. 

necessary to repentance. Open the 
Bible to the fifty-first Psalm, and 
there behold the emotions of a sinner 
who is convicted of his guilt, and has 
no wish to excuse himself, or to make 
his sins appear less than they really 
are. Fall down on your knees, with 
the Bible in your hands, and read 
that Psalm : 

" Have mercy upon me, O God, 
according to thy loving kindness : 
according unto the multitude of thy 
tender mercies, blot out my transgres- 
sions. Wash me throughly from 
mine iniquity, and cleanse me from 
my sin. For I acknowledge my 
transgressions, and my sin is ever be- 
fore me. Against thee, thee only 
have I sinned and done this evil in 
thy sight, that thou mightest be justi- 
fied when thou speakest, and clear 
when thou judgest." 



COMING TO CHRIST. 63 

God has seen your sins ; he knows 
all your iniquities, and you should re- 
member that every wicked word you 
have uttered, and every wicked act 
you have ever done, has been noticed 
by Him who seeth in secret ! Con- 
fess your sins in the sight of Him be- 
fore whom they have been committed, 
and acknowledge (what you cannot 
deny) that you have no excuse to 
give for one of a thousand of your 
transgressions. As you contemplate 
your sins in the light of God's coun- 
tenance, you may be led to cry : 

" Show pity, Lord ! O Lord ! forgive, 
Let a repenting rebel live ! 
Are not thy mercies large and free, 
May not a sinner trust in thee ? 

" My crimes are great, but can't surpass 
The power and glory of thy grace. 
Great God ! thy nature hath no bound, 
So let thy pardoning love be found." 



64 COMING TO CHRIST. 

Repentance implies sorrow for sin, 
as committed against God, your Fa- 
ther and Friend. You have often 
said, " Our Father, who art in hea- 
ven," and whenever you use that ten- 
der name, you approach the great 
God as the being who takes care of 
you with parental love. There is 
not a child in the most obscure cor- 
ner of the world, away in Greenland, 
or in China, or in the islands of the 
sea, who may not call God " Father." 
He knows the child, and watches over 
him, and hears every word he says, 
and knows all his thoughts. And 
this Father of all is pleased when 
children do right, and is grieved when 
they do wrong. And when you have 
sinned against God, that kind Father, 
as you have done all your life past, 
you must have grieved him a thousand 
times. He looks down upon you with 



COMING TO CHRIST. . 65 

pity, and wishes that you would sin 
no more. He says, by his prophet, 
" Oh, do not this abominable thing 
that I hate."* And when you feel 
sorry for sin, you ought to repent, 
not because the great God will pun- 
ish you for ever in hell unless you do 
repent, but because your sins offend 
that Father whom you ought to love, 
and who expostulates with you to-day 
and says, "My son, give me thine 

heart."t 

Think of all that God has done for 
you ! What father or mother was 
ever so kind to a child as God has 
been to you? He made you. He 
preserved you when you were a help- 
less infant in your mother's arms. He 
has kept you in life, while others have 
died in their sins and have gone down 



* Jer. xliv. 4. f Prov. xxiiL 26. 

6* 



66 COMING TO CHRIST. 

to hell ! When you have been sick, 
he has restored you to health. He 
has given you the Bible to tell you of 
himself, and the heaven which he has 
prepared for all his true children when 
they die. And more than this, he has 
given his dear son, the Lord Jesus 
Christ, who left his heavenly throne 
and came down to earth, and lived in 
poverty and sorrow, and died a cruel 
death on the cross, that he might re- 
deem poor sinners like you and me 
from hell ! Remember, that it was 
for your sins the Saviour hung upon 
the tree; and does it not fill you with 
remorse and shame to think how vile 
you have been? Just think of it! You 
have sinned against God, the Father, 
w r ho gave Jesus Christ, the Son, to 
die for you ! 

If you knew that your wicked con- 
duct had been the means of throwing 



COMING TO CHRIST. 67 

your father upon a bed of sickness, so 
that it might be said of you that you 
were bringing his gray hairs with sor- 
row to the grave, would it not grieve 
your heart ? Could any thing distress 
you more than the thought that you 
had pierced a parent's heart with 
many sorrows ? But with what deep 
displeasure must God regard your 
whole life now gone ! How your 
sins rise up before him to condemn 
you in his sight, while he pities your 
misery, but in justice must punish 
your ingratitude. It is well to look 
at your sin as thus committed against 
the kindest Father who has ever 
sheltered you in the arms of his love. 
He looks down upon you compassion- 
ately, and would rejoice to see you 
turning from your evil ways, to seek 
an " injured Father's face," and find 
peace to your soul. If you will calmly 



68 COMING TO CHRIST. 

consider your past offences, you will 
see that every wicked thought of your 
mind, every wicked deed of your % life, 
has been a weapon formed against 
your heavenly Father. What a 
wicked child you have been ! Lis- 
ten to his tender language when he 
speaks of the fate of the city which 
had rejected him. When our Saviour 
was on the earth, he looked upon the 
city of Jerusalem, and wept over it, 
as he saw that it was given up to its 
sins, and he cried out, " If thou hadst 
known, even thou, at least in this thy 
day, the things which belong unto 
thy peace, but now they are hid from 
thine eyes !"* 

Now, instead of trying to justify 
yourself, or to excuse your sins, you 
should fall down in the dust, and say 

* Luke xix. 42. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 69 

with David, in the Psalm which you 
just now read, " Create in me a clean 
heart, O God, and renew a right spi- 
rit within me. Cast me not awajr 
from thy presence, and take not thy 
Holy Spirit from me." Cry with 
the prodigal in the gospel, u Father, I 
have sinned against heaven and before 
thee, and am no more worthy to be 
called thy son." I do not deserve 
any thing at thy hand but indignation 
and wrath. I do not deserve thy 
mercy; but I do pray that I may be 
restored to thy favour, and that thou 
wouldst look upon me in pity, and 
give me some token that my sins are 
washed away in the atoning blood of 
thy Son, Jesus Christ. 

This confession you will make with 
a full heart. It will be no genuine 
repentance for sin that you feel, 
unless you are willing to confess and 



70 COMING TO CHRIST. 

to pray for forgiveness. You will 
desire to pour out your heart unto 
God, and to tell him how vile you 
have been, and how much you need 
his pardoning mercy. I can give you 
the history of a child much younger 
than you are, which will serve to il- 
lustrate the nature of true repentance. 
He was only six years old, and was 

!in general a very good boy and be- 
haved well. But boys who are called 
good, may sometimes do wrong; 
and this child did wrong, though it 
was very rare that he was known to 
disobey his mother, whom he tenderly 
loved, or to go in the ways of wicked 
children. One afternoon, after he had 
been at play, he came into the house, 
and seemed to be very dull and de- 
pressed. His mother asked him if he 
was ill ; but he said he was not. He 
talked very little, and often sighed. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 71 

His mother thought something was 
the matter with him, but she did not 
say much to him about it. At bed- 
time he kissed his mother, bade her 
good-night, and went to his room. 
After he had been about an hour in 
bed, the servant went to his mother 
and said that she was very uneasy 
about the little boy, for he was very 
restless, and she was afraid he was sick. 
She said that she heard him frequently 
sobbing, and that he wished his mo- 
ther to come to him, as he could not 
go to sleep till he had told her some- 
thing that made him very unhappy. 
His mother hastened to his bedside 
and he put his arms around her neck, 
burst into tears, and said, — 

"Dear mother, forgive me. I have 
been a very naughty boy to-day ! I 
have told a lie, and I have hid it from 
you. I was playing a game with my 



72 COMING TO CHRIST. 

cousins, and I won the game by a mis- 
take which they did not find out ; and 
I was so much pleased at beating the 
boys that I did not tell them of the 
mistake. I have felt very bad ever 
since, and I am afraid to go to sleep 
while God is angry with me. What 
shall I do that he may forgive me ?" 

" My child," said the mother, " God 
is always ready to forgive those who 
believe in Christ, if they are sorry 
for their sins, and are resolved to sin 
no more. We cannot hide any thing 
from God. He knows w r hen we do 
wrong, and w r hen we desire to do 
what is right. You should pray to 
God that he will forgive your sin for 
the sake of the Saviour who died for 
sinners ; and God will pardon you." 

The little boy rose from his bed, 
and kneeling down, he prayed to his 
heavenly Father to forgive the sins 



COMING TO CHRIST. . 73 

of that day and of all his life past ; 
and he promised never to be such a 
wicked boy again. Then he went to 
bed again, and was soon fast asleep. 
If he was sincere in his repentance, 
he told his cousins the next time he 
saw them, of his having done wrong; 
and from that time he never tried to 
deceive any one again. 

This child was led to feel sorry, 
not because he had any fears that his 
parents would punish him, but his 
conscience reproved him of his sin, 
and he felt that he had offended God. 
He could not go to sleep till he had 
reason to hope that God had forgiven 
him. He was willing to confess his 
fault; and he did confess it, and he 
wept bitterly on account of it. 

Do you feel sorry for your sins ? 

* 7 



74 COMING TO CHRIST. 



CHAPTER V. 

Samuel Johnson 9 s remorse — The pains ofhell—~The 
loss of heaven — Repentance is no ground of par- 
don — Is there no way of escape ? 

In a moment of temptation, a little 
boy, named Samuel Johnson, told a 
lie. He was sorry in an instant that 
he had done wrong; but he was not 
so sorry as to be willing to go and 
confess his sin. 

But he could not forget the great 
wickedness of which he had been 
guilty; and when he was alone with 
God that night, the feeling of remorse 
that came over him was deep and dis- 
tressing. He described it by saying 
that he felt as if his blood was on 
fire, and as if he was burning up. He 



COMING TO CHRIST. 75 

could not sleep ; he tossed upon his 
bed through the night, while he- 
thought all the time that the eye of 
an offended God was fixed upon him, 
and that he deserved to be punished. 

When the little boy arose the next 
morning, he kneeled down by his bed 
and tried to pray; but he thought 
that God was so offended with him, 
that he would not listen to him. And 
after saying " Our Father who art in 
heaven," he rose from his knees and 
soon joined the family as if his mind 
were perfectly at rest He saw that 
no one noticed his state of mind, and 
he entered into conversation with the 
family as usual, and by degrees his 
feeling of distress wore off, and he 
became entirely careless about his 
sin. 

The remorse which he felt was not 
true repentance. It was the effect of 



76 COMING TO CHRIST. 

his conscience, reproving him on ac- 
count of his sin. But it did not hum- 
ble him. He did not wish to confess 
his sin, and when he found that it was 
not discovered by others, he ceased 
to feel uneasy about it. 

The Bible has employed very 
strong, and sometimes terrible lan- 
guage, to express the sorrow of the 
souls of those who die in their sins 
and go down to hell. The pains of 
hell are often spoken of as eternal 
burnings. " Who shall dwell with 
the devouring fire ? Who shall dwell 
with everlasting burnings ?"* "Where 
their worm dieth not, and the fire is 
not quenched."! " There is wailing 
and gnashing of teeth."t Such lan- 
guage as this is very expressive, 



* Isa. xxxiii. 14. f Mark ix. 44. 

X Matt. xiii. 42. 



COMING TO CHRIST, 77 

and must mean something. It is 
designed to teach us that those im- 
penitent sinners, who are sent to 
hell, are suffering the most dreadful 
torments, and that there is no relief 
from the pains they suffer. Remorse 
is this inextinguishable fire — remorse 
is the worm that never dies ! The 
sinner feels the gnawings of it for ever 
and ever, and for ever mourns that he 
was so foolish and so wicked as to 
put off repentance until it was of no 
avail. This is the doom — the ever- 
lasting doom — of all those who die 
in their sins. The Bible teaches this 
truth most clearly, and the wicked, 
when they feel the stings of a guilty 
conscience, have a dread foretaste of 
what will be their portion through all 
eternity, unless they repent and be- 
lieve. 

Remorse is certainly a fearful pun- 

7* 



78 COMING TO CHRIST. 

ishment, and one which will certainly- 
come upon the wicked in hell. But 
besides the anguish they will suffer in 
their own souls on account of their 
past sins, there are other and dread- 
ful pains which the wicked will en- 
dure. The wrath of God will be 
poured out on them to the uttermost, 
and who can describe the portion of 
those who are thus exposed for ever to 
the just vengeance of the Almighty? 
" Upon the wicked he shall rain 
snares, fire and brimstone, and a hor- 
rible tempest ; this shall be the por- 
tion of their cup."* The Lord God 
is terrible in his anger, and his fury- 
burns to the lowest hell. The wick- 
ed may hide themselves in the deepest 
dens of despair, but his hand will 
bring them out and punish them. 

* Ps. xi. 6. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 79 

This they deserve, and they will feel 
that they deserve it. Conscience will 
be on the side of the righteous God 
while he lays his rod upon them. 

Such is the punishment which the 
sins of the wicked will draw upon 
them unless they repent. 

It is eternal punishment ! 0, if the 
mind could fix upon some point, in 
the distant periods of eternal ages, 
when the wrath of God would be 
turned away, when the gnawing of 
the undying worm would cease, and 
the fires of hell would go out, there 
would be some hope to lighten the 
misery of such deep despair. But if 
there be a hell, it must be endless in 
its duration, for sinners do not grow 
better there. They become worse and 
worse, adding sin to sin, and provok- 
ing more and more the wrath of Him 
that sitteth on the throne. 



80 COMING TO CHRIST. 

I have said in the former part of 
this volume that you have a desire to 
go to heaven. And when you think 
of the mansions that have been pre- 
pared for those that love God, and 
the joy of the inhabitants of that 
blessed place, you cannot bear to 
think that you shall be excluded from 
heaven, and shut up in hell. To 
be banished for ever from the pre- 
sence of God and all holy beings — 
never to meet those pious friends 
whom you now love with so much 
tenderness — can you bear the thought? 
Perhaps you have a pious parent, or a 
pious parent may have already gone to 
heaven, leaving a godly example for 
you to follow, and the thought of meet- 
ing your parents in heaven may have 
often been to you the greatest attrac- 
tion of that world of joy ! For you 
cannot think of being separated for 



COMING TO CHRIST. 81 

ever from those so dear to you. You 
cannot think of lying down in de- 
vouring fire while your friends are 
rejoicing among the angels in glory ! 
Nor can you bear the thought of 
dwelling for ever in the company of 
devils, and with the wicked who are 
driven away into outer darkness. You 
would not desire to listen for ever to 
their curses and blasphemy, as they 
vent their rage against the God who 
made them, whose mercy they have 
despised, and whose wrath they have 
provoked. But the remorse of con- 
science which you now feel is the 
first fruits of sin, and the long eter- 
nity — the for-ever — before you, will 
be spent in more bitter sorrow, unless 
you now obtain the pardon of your 
transgressions, and become reconciled 
unto God. 

It is well to understand clearly 



82 COMING TO CHRIST. 

your present condition, your sinful- 
ness and your danger, that the great 
question may be considered, " Whe- 
ther there is any hope in your case?" 
As your heart has not been renewed 
by the Holy Spirit, you are still in 
your sins, an enemy of God, under 
the curse of his holy law, and liable 
every moment to be doomed to the 
pains of hell ! It would be perfectly 
right and proper for God to punish 
you for one sin. Every sin deserves 
God's wrath and curse, both in this 
life and in that which is to come. Of 
how many sins have you been guilty 
in your life already past ? They are 
all remembered, and you will have to 
answer for them all in the day of 
judgment ! If you should lie down 
to sleep this night, and never wake 
again in this world, where would your 
soul be ? Were you now to stand 



COMING TO CHRIST. 83 

in the presence of the great God of 
heaven and earth, to give an account 
of the deeds done in the body, what 
could you answer for the sins which 
would then rise up against you? 
You would have nothing to answer. 
And what can you do now, to escape 
the wrath and curse of God that must 
come upon sin ? You say that you 
are sorry you have sinned, and you 
desire to be forgiven ? But why 
should God forgive you ? On what 
ground do j r ou deserve to be forgiven ? 
What reason can you give why you 
should not be punished for ever ? 

Suppose you have offended your 
father, and he calls you before him to 
punish you for your disobedience. 
Does the fact that you are sorry for 
your sins satisfy him that you do 
not deserve to be punished ? If you 
promise to do so no more, will he 



84 COMING TO CHRIST. 

not say that you still deserve to 
be punished for the past, and that 
all that you can do in time to come 
will make no amends for former 
transgressions? Such is your pre- 
sent condition. You are a sinner 
condemned already ! The wrath of 
God abideth on you ! The law 
that you have broken demands that 
your soul should die ! Now what 
can you do ? To whom will you flee 
for help ? You cannot deliver your 
own soul from the hand of God ! 
You cannot answer for one of a thou- 
sand of your transgressions. If you 
begin to do better in time to come, 
all your past sins are recorded against 
you in the book of God's remem- 
brance, and they will be brought 
at the last day. 

If a murderer is convicted of his 
crime and sentenced to death, it would 



COMING TO CHRIST. 85 

not be right to pardon him and set 
him at liberty merely because he says 
that he is sorry and will never com- 
mit a murder again. The law that 
forbids murder would be good for 
nothing, if repentance and promise of 
amendment were enough to ensure 
the offender's pardon. 

All sinners will feel sorry, sooner 
or later, that they have broken the 
law of God. Some will feel sorry 
while they are here, in this world ; and 
many will vainly sorrow in hell. If you 
do not mourn now over sin, the time 
will certainly arrive when you will 
feel the bitterness of hopeless grief. 
Beware lest " thou mourn at the last, 
when thy flesh and thy body are con- 
sumed," and say, " how have I hated 
instruction, and my heart despised 
reproof."* 

* Prov. v. 12, 13. 
8 



86 COMING TO CHRIST. 

There is sorrow in hell ; but that 
sorrow is of no avail. It would not 
do to open the gates of hell and re- 
lease the wicked from its dreadful 
caverns, and admit them into heaven, 
because they are sorry that their sins 
have brought them into that place of 
torment. Nor would it be right to 
take you to heaven merely because 
you repent of sin and promise to be 
good hereafter. 

This brings us to see that you are 
in a sad and desperate state. You 
have sinned without excuse, and are 
now under sentence of death ! Unless 
some way can be found by which God 
can forgive you, and still be a just and 
righteous God, there is no help for 
you. The law must take its course. 
You must be cut off in your sins, and 
be punished with everlasting destruc- 
tion from the presence of the Lord. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 87 

If God has provided a way of escape, 
and has made it so simple and so 
easy, that even children and youth 
are able to see and understand it, we 
ought to make haste to discover it, 
and walk in it, that we may find the 
salvation of our precious souls. You 
will perish unless you find the way 
of LIFE. 




88 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 



CHAPTER VI. 

What must I do ? — Believe — Jesus Christ is the only 
Saviour — He is able and willing to save all who 
repent and believe the gospel — The sinner believ- 
ing. 

"What must I do to be saved ?" 
This was the great question which a 
trembling sinner once asked an apostle 
of God ; and the answer was just the 
same that must be given to every sin- 
ner who comes to inquire the way to 
heaven. " Believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ and thou shalt be saved."* 

But when the sinner is told that 
he must believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, he asks again, " What is it to 
believe?" Simple as the language is, 

* Acts xvi. 31. 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 89 

which we employ when speaking on 
this subject, it is true that almost all 
children and many persons of mature 
years, appear to be in doubt as to the 
meaning of this direction, when they 
are told to believe. The sinner who 
reads the word of God, has often read 
such passages as these : " As Moses 
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, 
even so must the Son of man be lifted 
up : that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish but have eternal 
life."* "He that believeth on the 
Son hath everlasting life ; and he that 
believeth not the Son, shall not see 
life, but the wrath of God abideth on 
him."t " He that believeth and is 
baptized shall be saved, and he that 
believeth not shall be damned.":): 
These, and many other similar pas- 

* John iii. 14, 15. f John iii. 36. 

X Mark xvi. 16. 

8* 



90 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

sages of Scripture, make it very plain 
that believing in Christ is the way to 
be saved. 

When man had sinned, and by his 
sins had incurred the dreadful penalty 
of God's violated law, he was pleased 
to give his Son Jesus Christ, to die 
for sinners. "This is a faithful say- 
ing and worthy of all acceptation, that 
Christ Jesus came into the world to 
save sinners. "* " Neither is there 
salvation in any other: for there is 
none other name under heaven, given 
among men, whereby we must be 
saved, "t 

The first thing which you are to 
believe, then, is this, that there is no 
other way of salvation than by Jesus 
Christ. So long as you think of 
finding any other plan by which to 

* 1 Tim. i. 15. f Acts iv. 12. 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 91 

secure the favour of God and the sal- 
vation of your soul, you will not rely 
on the plan that God has made 
known. It is indeed wonderful that 
God should devise any plan by which 
sinners may be pardoned and saved ; 
and it is more wonderful still, that he 
should devise such a way as this. But 
if you search the Scriptures or study 
all other books, you will never find 
any way to heaven that does not lead 
you, first, to Jesus Christ. As soon 
as one of our fallen race feels that he 
is a sinner, and in danger of being 
punished in hell for ever, he begins to 
inquire how he shall escape. He 
sometimes thinks that if he does many 
things that are good — such as giving 
to the poor ; or to the cause of Christ, 
by sending the gospel to the heathen ; 
or building churches — God will be 
pleased with him, and will take him 



92 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

to heaven. For the same reason 
many people, (the Papists, for ex- 
ample,) do penance, as they call it; that 
is, they undergo hardship and pain ; 
they make long pilgrimages, or go 
barefoot in the cold; or abstain for a 
long time from food, thinking that 
God will accept such sacrifices as an 
atonement for sin, and therefore will 
pardon their transgressions. They 
trust in what they do, and not in what 
Christ has done. So the poor pagans, 
whose consciences tell them that they 
have done wrong, offer sacrifices, 
(sometimes of their own living chil- 
dren,) to appease the wrath of an 
unknown idol-god. When our Sa- 
viour was here on earth, a poor 
woman came to him who had been 
diseased for many years, and had 
spent all her living on many physi- 
cians, and was nothing bettered, but 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 93 

rather grew worse. She came to 
Christ, and as soon as she touched 
the hem of his garment she was made 
well ! All other physicians could do 
her no good ; but when she gave up 
all dependence on them, and just 
relied on Christ, she was healed. 
Thus we are taught that there is no 
other way of being saved than by 
simple faith in Jesus. So long as we 
cherish a thought of being able to 
find any Saviour but Christ, we do 
not trust in him alone. This point 
must be settled, and your mind must 
be at rest upon it, or you will not 
appreciate the necessity of the atone- 
ment which has been made for sin. 

In the next place, the Lord Jesus 
Christ is just the Saviour whom you 
need. As you have broken the law 
of God, it is necessary that you should 
suffer, or that some one, who has not 



94 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

sinned, should suffer in your place. 
The Son of God, equal with the 
Father, and free from all sin, consents 
to bear our load of guilt, — to suffer 
the just for the unjust, and to take 
upon himself the iniquities of us all. 
This mysterious sacrifice satisfies the 
demands of the law; and now God 
can be just, and yet pardon those 
who believe. If Christ had not died, 
we must have perished for ever. But 
since Christ has borne our sins in his 
own body, you can see plainly how 
God can have mercy on sinners, for 
the sake of his Son, who has made 
this great atonement. He has pro- 
mised that he will have mercy on 
those who come to him believing in 
Jesus Christ, and relying on what he 
has done, as the sufficient, sole ground 
of forgiveness and acceptance. 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 95 

The anxious sinner, overwhelmed 
with the number and greatness of his 
sins, and feeling that he most justly 
deserves to perish, is not willing to 
believe that the Saviour is able to 
have compassion on so guilty a soul 
as his, and to deliver him from going 
down to the pit. But he does not 
realize the greatness of the atonement 
which has been made. The blood 
of Christ cleanseth from all sin. Mil- 
lions of sinners have believed in Him, 
and, dying in faith, have ascended up 
to dwell in his presence, for ever to 
sing his praises. Multitudes, now 
living, rejoice in him with joy unspeak- 
able. The most guilty sinners have 
found him just the Saviour they re- 
quired. He died for the chief of 
sinners. "He is able to save them to 
the uttermost that come unto God by 



96 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

him, seeing he ever liveth to make 
intercession for them."* He came 
not to call the righteous, but sinners, 
to repentance. You are a sinner, — 
a great sinner ; and none but an 
almighty Saviour would be able to 
save your soul. Such a Saviour is 
the Lord Jesus Christ; and you can 
plead the very greatness of your guilt 
to show your need of a free salvation. 
" O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for 
it is great !" 

But more than all this, you must 
believe that Jesus Christ is willing to 
save. You see the way by which 
God will have mercy on sinners for 
the sake of Christ : that he accepts 
the death of his Son, as an atoning 
sacrifice, and is therefore just, while 

* Heb. vii. 25. 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR, 97 

he forgives the believer. But you 
doubt the willingness of God to have 
compassion on so great a sinner as 
you are. " Will he save me ?" you 
ask, " me, a miserable, wicked child ? 
I have had the Bible and the Sab- 
bath and pious instruction ; I have 
had the means of grace, and have 
often been invited to come to Christ, 
and have rejected the invitation and 
grieved the Saviour. My sins have 
been committed against the light of 
truth, and against the love and 
mercy of God, and I deserve to 
suffer in hell ; and will the Saviour 
have pity on me ? No, I shall die in 
ray sins, and where the Saviour is I 
can never come." But have you not 
heard those sweet words of the gos- 
pel, " Come unto me, all ye that la- 
bour and are heavy laden, and I will 



98 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

give you rest?"* " If any man thirst, 
let him come unto me and drink."t 
And how the Lord speaks by the 
prophet Isaiah, to encourage the most 
unbelieving to approach and receive 
a free salvation : "Ho, every one that 
thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and 
he that hath no money, come ye, buy 
and eat; yea, come, buy wine and 
milk, without money and without 
price. ,? J " Though your sins be as 
scarlet, they shall be as white as 
snow ; though they be red like crim- 
son, they shall be as wool."§ To 
whom are these invitations addressed, 
if not to you? They are certainly 
intended for very great sinners, and 
for those who feel the burden of their 



* Matt. xi. 28, f John vii. 37. 

^ Isa. lv. 1. § Isa. i. 18. 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 99 

sins; who feel that they are under 
the curse of God, and deserve to be 
thrust into hell. If ten thousand 
worlds, besides this, had sinned, it 
would not have required any greater 
atonement than the one which Christ 
has made, and he is therefore able 
to save. And he has shown his 
willingness to save, by suffering the 
pains of death to purchase salva- 
tion for all those who will believe on 
him. 

And has he made any exception, in 
the case of any one, when he offers 
his blood as the price of their pardon? 
Has he excluded you from his offers 
of mercy to a perishing world? Has 
he not said that he is willing to save 
all who will believe, and is he not sin- 
cere in his words ? Did he not leave 
the bosom of the Father, in which he 



100 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

dwelt, and did he not come down to 
a world of sin and suffering; endure 
the cruel mockings and scourgings of 
his enemies, and every indignity that 
wicked men could inflict; and finally 
suffer the shameful and painful death 
of crucifixion, and all this for the sake 
of poor sinners; and now, do you hesi- 
tate to believe that he is ready to save 
those for whom he thus suffered ? 
Did he not die for you, and will he 
not save you if you will trust in him ? 
If your own name had been inserted 
in the invitations of the gospel, they 
could scarcely have been made more 
directly to you than they now are ; 
and it is not possible for language to 
express more clearly the willingness 
of the Lord Jesus Christ to have com- 
passion on you. Hear the Saviour 
saying, " Him that cometh unto me, 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 101 

I will in no wise cast out."* To 
whom is that great and precious pro- 
mise made, if it is not addressed to 
you ? Listen again to that sweet in- 
vitation that is found on the last page 
of the Bible, " Let him that is athirst 
come ; and whosoever will, let him 
take the water of life freely."t 

And here I would ask you to take 
the New Testament and read again 
the story of the prodigal son. The 
joy of the father on the return of the 
wanderer will give you some idea of 
the joy of the Saviour when prodigal 
sinners come back to him with con- 
fessions of their sins. Read also the 
fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, and think 
upon each verse as a distinct and gra- 
cious call to you, and especially dwell 



* John vi. 37. f Rev. xxii. 17. 

9* 



102 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

upon the fulness and freeness of the 
invitation and promise contained in 
the seventh verse of that most blessed 
message from the infinite God. Read, 
and may the words sink into your 
soul ! 

" Let the wicked forsake his way, 
and the unrighteous man his thoughts, 
and let him return unto the Lord, 
and he will have mercy upon him, and 
to our God for he will abundantly 

PARDON !" 

Could words be more full of hope? 
This is the call of the great God to 
you : to the unrighteous and the 
wicked. It is a pledge that he will 
have mercy, and will abundantly par- 
don. There is no room for doubt 
There is no danger of being rejected. 
If you will return unto the Lord, he 
will have mercy ! Hath he not said 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 103 

it, and shall he not do it? And 
will you doubt his willingness to 
save ? 

If now you are ready to believe 
that Jesus Christ is the only Saviour 
of sinners, that he is able and will- 
ing to save unto the uttermost all 
those that trust in him, you know 
what it is to come to Christ. It is to 
depend on him for the pardon of your 
sins, and the salvation of your soul. 
You are to receive this truth in the 
love of it, that Jesus Christ died for 
sinners, and has obtained eternal re- 
demption for all them that believe. 
But remember, that though you be- 
lieve this with all your heart, you will 
not deserve to be saved. Your faith 
will not be your title to eternal life. 
But God will forgive you for the sake 
of his son, Jesus Christ, who has 



104 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

died to atone for your sins. His 
death is the only ground of pardon 
for any sinner. Salvation comes 
from his death, and it is by faith that 
we become partakers of it. God will 
forgive those only for Christ's sake, 
who repent and believe. Can there 
be any love more wonderful than 
this ? And can there be any plan of 
salvation more simple ? A little child 
can understand it as clearly as the 
oldest and wisest man. Faith in 
Christ is the simple trust of a child 
in the promise of God, and you have 
more encouragement to trust in your 
heavenly Father than in any earthly 
parent. Can you not be willing 
to leave your soul in the hands of 
God, being fully persuaded that he 
is able and willing to wash away all 
your sins in the blood of Christ, and 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 10 

prepare you for his service here, and 
for the enjoyment of everlasting life 
in heaven ? 

" Behold, then, the Lamb of God, 
which taketh away the sin of the 
world !"* No other arm than his 
can save you in this hour of your dis- 
tress. But fix your mind on Him. 
See him as he hangs upon the cross, 
bleeding and dying for poor sinners. 
Remember that he came down from 
heaven to die for sinners ; that your 
sins were a part of the load he bore, 
when he bowed his head and gave up 
the ghost ! And when this infinite 
sacrifice for sin is in full view before 
you, believe in its power to make 
atonement for your sin and to save 
your soul. 

* John i. 29. 



106 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

Instead of thinking that you will 
get to heaven by trying to be good 
all the rest of your life, you must rely 
on the atonement of Christ as the sole 
ground of your acceptance with God. 
If you are saved, it must be for what 
Christ has done, and not for any thing 
that you have done, or can do for 
yourself. This truth ought to be 
very distinctly kept in view, and very 
deeply felt, for the whole plan of sal- 
vation depends on it. 

It is of no avail that you have wept 
and prayed over your sins, that you 
have felt sorrow ever so deep or 
ever so long because you have broken 
the law of God. Repentance cannot 
make you better. You are still 
under the wrath of God. " He that 
believe th not is condemned already. " 
" He that believeth not the Son, shall 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 107 

not see life, but the wrath of God 
abideth on him."* You may make 
great promises of future obedience, 
and may begin to keep the command- 
ments of God, forsaking your evil 
ways, and walking meekly in the fear 
of the Lord, but unless you trust sim- 
ply and entirely in the merits of 
Christ for salvation, you will surely 
perish. 

" He that believeth not shall be 
damned. 7 ' Awful as the declaration 
is, it brings out, in forcible words, this 
great fact, that simple faith in Christ 
is the only ground of the sinner's 
hope. "Believe, and thou shalt 
be saved," said the Apostle to the 
convicted jailer, and this is all that 
can be said to you. You may seek 

* John iii. 18, 36. 



108 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

the world through to find some other 
way of heing saved ; you may go to 
your friends, and ask them what you 
must do ; you may search the Scrip- 
tures in the hope of finding something 
more simple than this, and you will 
learn, after all, that there is no other 
way to heaven. 

And there is no need of any other 
way. There could not be a more sim- 
ple scheme than the one which I have 
attempted to explain to you, and what 
hinders you now from resting upon 
it, with all your heart, as the abiding 
hope of your soul ? This is the way 
in which all have come, who have 
found peace in believing in Jesus 
Christ, and if you will trust in the 
same Saviour, you may, from this 
moment, be happy in the assurance 
of sins forgiven and acceptance with 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 109 

God. You can say with truth, " 1 
have sinned against Heaven and am 
not worthy to be forgiven. I deserve 
to be banished from the presence of 
God, and to have my part in the lake 
that burneth with fire; but I believe 
that Christ Jesus died for sinners, 
and I am willing to trust in Him for 
the pardon of my sins. Lord, I be- 
lieve !" 

If you feel sincere sorrow for your 
sins, and are ready to trust in Christ 
for salvation, the work is done. You 
may be as sure of acceptance as the 
penitent child is, who casts himself 
into his father's arms. This is faith ; 
a trust in the mercy of God, extended 
to you because of the atoning sacrifice 
of Christ. 

In thus leading your mind to the 
perception of the truth as it is set 

10 



110 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

forth in the word of God, I have 
made less frequent allusion to the 
work of the Holy Spirit upon your 
heart, because I wished you to see 
Christ alone as your Redeemer. But 
it is the power of the Spirit of God 
that must lead you to see and to feel 
that you are a sinner, in danger of 
death, and liable each moment to be 
cut off and cast into hell ! It is by 
his power that your eyes are opened 
to your danger, that you have been 
arrested in your course of sin, and 
been led to ask, " What must I do 
to be saved?" And if now you are 
brought to embrace the gospel plan 
of salvation, and to trust in the Sa- 
viour of sinners, it is the Holy Spirit 
that persuades and enables you to 
embrace Jesus Christ as he is offered 
to you in the gospel. The Spirit sets 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. Ill 

your sins in order before your mind, 
convinces you of your guilt and your 
desert of eternal punishment, and 
urges you to renounce your sins, and 
to cleave unto the Lord your God. 
These are the strivings of the Spirit 
which you feel in your soul ; and you 
ought to be very careful that you resist 
them not, lest you should cause him 
to withdraw from you for ever. Con- 
scious that God is thus moving upon 
your heart, and inclining you to em- 
brace the offers of eternal life, you 
should fall down on your knees and 
cry,— 

"Here, Lord, am I, a poor, miser- 
able, hell-deserving sinner. I have 
broken thy laws, and have not obeyed 
thy counsels, and I deserve to die. 
If thou shouldst now cut me off and 
give me my portion with unbelievers 



112 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

in the world of wo, it would be 
right; for I am a great sinner, and 
have no excuse. But, O Lord, I 
know that thy dear Son, Jesus Christ, 
has died to make atonement for the 
sins of men. For his sake thou canst 
have compassion on the chief of sin- 
ners. I do not ask it because of any 
thing that I have done, or can do, but 
only for the merits of the blessed Sa- 
viour, who gave himself for me. 

1 Thou must save and thou alone. 
In my hand no price I bring, 
Simply to thy cross I cling.' 

Take me, O God, and do with me 
what is for thy glory. Thine I would 
be, — thine only and for ever. Here 
at thy feet I would lie, and put my 
trust in the merits of my Saviour, who 
died on the cross. In no other way 
would I be saved. 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 



113 



1 A broken heart, my God ! my King ! 
Is all the sacrifice I bring : 
The God of grace will ne'er despise 
A broken heart for sacrifice. 

'My soul lies humbled in the dust, 
And owns thy dreadful sentence just ; 
Look down, O Lord, with pitying eye, 
And save a soul condemned to die.' " 




10* 



114 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOU1 



CHAPTER VII. 

« 

Why you ought to come to Christ s hAV 

Christ is the way, as well % t the 
truth and the life. You have seen 
that God is willing to have mercy on 
the chief of sinners ; that the Saviour 
is waiting to be gracious, and that the 
Holy Spirit, by convincing of sin and 
awakening desires after salvation, is 
striving with the sinner to lead him 
to repent and trust in Christ. If you 
perish in your sins when the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Ghost would 
rejoice to save you, it must be your 
own fault; and your punishment in 
hell ought to be far greater than the 
punishment of those who have not 
had the instructions which have been 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 115 

given to you. And if you have not 
yet yielded to the calls of the Sa- 
viour, and embraced the Lord Jesus 
Christ, as he is offered to you in the 
gospel, there is great reason to fear 
that you will continue to go on in sin, 
and become more and more hardened 
in your iniquity. You may grieve 
the Holy Spirit so that the serious 
and anxious thoughts which now dis- 
turb your mind will all pass away, 
and you will be left to perish ! I 
would therefore urge you to an im- 
mediate acceptance of Christ as your 
Saviour. If you will attend to them 
with prayerful earnestness, I would 
present some reasons to induce you 
to come to Christ now. 

1. It is easier to come now than it 
ever will be hereafter. The heart is 
more tender in childhood and youth, 



116 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

than it is when the sinner has grown 
old in sin. Sin will get a stronger 
hold upon your affections, and you 
will love it more and hate God more, 
the older you grow. Perhaps you 
can remember the time when the 
truths of the Bible made a deeper im- 
pression on your heart than they do 
now; when you were easily melted 
and moved by the mere allusion to 
Jesus and his dying love; when you 
longed to go to heaven and enjoy the 
society of saints and angels. When 
you were only six or seven years old 
the love of Christ would touch your 
heart far more than it does now; and 
as one year after another has passed 
by, you have become more and more 
indifferent to the power of divine 
things. The Holy Spirit has now, 
perhaps, aroused vou to a sense of 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 117 

your lost condition, and has led you 
to feel more anxious than you have 
felt before, about the salvation of your 
precious soul. But unless you re- 
pent and believe now, these serious 
thoughts will soon pass away, and 
you will go on, unconcerned, in sin. 
You will be more wicked and care- 
less and thoughtless than you have 
ever been. The preaching of the 
gospel, the instructions of the Sab- 
bath-school, the prayers and counsels 
of pious parents and friends, will 
have less effect upon you than they 
have had in years past. Conscience, 
that monitor in your breast, which 
reproves you when you do wrong, 
will be less tender, and you will sin 
without remorse or shame, though 
you still know that it is offensive to 
God, and will expose you to his 



118 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

eternal displeasure. And so you will 
go on, adding sin to sin, and treasur- 
ing up wrath against the day of wrath, 
until, perhaps, you are suddenly cut 
down, and summoned to the judgment- 
seat of Christ. 

And besides this, you have much 
less to distract your mind now than 
you will have when you become 
older. A few years hence, and the 
cares of the world will press heavily 
upon you. In the morning when you 
awake, you will think of the business 
that must be done ; and through the 
day you will be busy, and perplexed, 
and anxious about the things of the 
world. And at night you will be tired 
and disturbed, and no time will be 
found to consider the things that 
belong to your everlasting peace. 
This is one reason why so very few 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 119 

men of business are ever converted to 
God. Almost all who are ever 
brought to Christ come when they 
are young; before the cares of the 
world, and the desire for riches have 
taken possession of their hearts. As 
soon as men become anxious about 
their worldly business, they neglect 
the one thing needful, and forget the 
interests of their immortal souls. 

Or, if you do not plunge into busi- 
ness, you will soon be taken up with 
the pleasures of the world. See the 
youth around you, who have grown 
up in sin. How fond they are of 
dress and display ! How the follies 
of time have gained their affections; 
and how little do they act as if they 
thought that eternity was just before 
them. They are on the verge of hell, 
but they are as unconcerned as if no 



120 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

fiery billows rolled beneath their feet. 
" Madness is in their heart while they 
live." It will be a miracle of mercy 
if God should alarm them in their gay 
career and bring them to repentance. 
It is most probable they will press on 
in sin, pursuing the vanities of the 
world, putting off repentance till a 
more convenient season, and at last, 
in an hour they think not, the sum- 
mons of death will come, and they 
will be laid in the grave. Soon — very 
soon — you will be in the ranks of those 
who are seeking after the vain plea- 
sures of a wicked world; and even if 
you should then think of heaven and 
hell, it would be harder than it is now 
to break away from sin, and set your 
affections on things above. Your 
young companions will point the 
finger of scorn at you, and try to 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 121 

make you ashamed of your fears. 
They will laugh at religion, and tell 
you it is well enough for the weak 
and the old, but never was intended 
for the young; and so they would 
persuade you to omit any preparation 
for eternity until the approach of 
death. 

But God says, " Behold now is 
the accepted time, behold now is the 
day of salvation." Every thing now is 
favourable. The Spirit of God has 
awakened you to a sense of your 
sins ; and the blessed Saviour stands, 
with open arms, to receive you as a 
penitent sinner trusting in his atoning 
blood. If you defer till to-morrow, 
all your anxiety may be gone : the 
next day you may be thoughtless 
about your precious soul, and in a 
few weeks from this time you may be 

11 



122 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

more hardened in sin than you have 
been in your whole life before. It is 
a solemn moment with you. The eye 
of God is fixed upon you. He is 
waiting to receive you as a returning 
prodigal. There is sympathy felt in 
heaven for you this moment, and there 
would be joy among the angels if you 
should now repent and believe. This 
is the golden hour for you. Repent 
now, believe now, accept Christ as 
your Saviour now. 

2. But another reason for imme- 
diate decision to be the Lord's, is 
found in the fact, that if you remain 
as you now are you will certainly 
perish. It will require no effort on 
your part to destroy your own soul. 
If you refuse to come to Christ, you 
will pass along down the stream of 
time, and by and by, (suddenly, per- 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 123 

haps,) you will plunge into hell ! You 
may never become an abandoned sin- 
ner, a liar or profane swearer, or a 
thief; you may always be moral in 
your deportment, and regular in your 
attendance upon the means of grace, 
and like the young man of whom you 
read,* you may keep all the com- 
mandments from your youth up. But 
if you never loved God with all your 
heart and soul, if you have never re- 
pented of your sins and believed in 
Christ, you are the enemy of God, 
and if you die as you are, you must 
perish ! Where Christ is, you can 
never come! Remain as you are, 
and your destruction is as sure as 
the coming of death. Millions once 
thought as you now think, that at 

* Matt. xix. 20. 



124 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

some future day they would repent 
and believe, and sitting still, they 
waited for a better time to come. 
It never came. Months and years 
swiftly passed away ; the cares of the 
world pressed heavily on the heart; 
youth, manhood, and old age, each in 
its turn, came on ; and at last stern 
death seized upon them, and bore 
them away to the bar of God. They 
were resting just where you now are, 
thinking that they would repent, but 
perishing in their sins. Many in hell 
are vainly mourning over their folly 
in neglecting the one single moment 
which might have saved them from 
that awful doom ! 

3. If such a thing were possible as 
that you should come to Christ, in 
the way of his appointment, and he 
should refuse to accept you and save 
you, you would be in no worse con- 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 125 

dition than you are in now. You can 
but perish. 

There were four men at the gate 
of Samaria, who were afflicted with 
the leprosy. The Syrian army had 
encamped around the city, and these 
men were debating whether to go 
into the city, where the famine was 
raging, or to throw themselves into 
the camp of the enemy where they 
might be killed. And they said, 
" Why sit we here until we die. If 
we say we will enter into the city, 
then the famine is in the city, and we 
shall die there. And if we sit still 
here, we die also. Now therefore, 
come, and let us fall into the hosts of 
the Syrians : if they save us alive, 
we shall live, and if they kill us, we 
shall but die."* 

* 2 Kings vii. 3. 
11* 



126 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

In like manner did the youthful Es- 
ther reason when she wished to make 
a request of a tyrant. If she found 
favour in his eyes, her request would 
be heard, but if not, the worst he 
could do would be to put her to 
death. But she said, " If I perish, I 
perish," and ventured in. She was 
heard, and saved herself and her na- 
tion. 

If you should now resolve to for- 
sake your sins, and fall down in the 
dust at the feet of Christ, and he 
should turn away from you, and leave 
you to lie there and perish, you could 
not be more miserable now or here- 
after, than you will be if you die in 
your present guilt. Nay, it may be 
far better. You are now in arms 
against God, and when he comes to 
take vengeance on his enemies, it may 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 127 

be better for you to be found with 
your weapons in the dust, and your- 
self prostrate at the foot of the cross. 
If your suit should be denied, and 
you should be driven away from the 
Saviour, and cast out into everlast- 
ing darkness, you will feel that you 
had done your duty : that you had 
sought the Saviour : had renounced 
your sins : had trusted in the great 
atonement, and had perished because 
the Lord would not have mercy upon 
you when you lay at his feet ! One 
of the bitterest pangs of the future 
state of the impenitent will be the 
thought that they might have gone 
to heaven if they would ; but if you 
come to Christ and he refuses to ac- 
cept you, this sorrow will not be 
yours. You may then feel that you 
did not reject Christ : he rejected 
you. You did not perish because you 



128 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR 

would, but because you must ! I say, 
therefore, that it will be far better to 
perish at the foot of the cross than 
anywhere else. 

4. But you may be assured that no 
one ever did perish there. We have 
read the dying confessions of many 
sinners, but we never heard of one 
who professed to have repented of 
sin, and was refused forgiveness. 
Many came to Jesus when he was 
here on the earth, but no one was 
ever rejected. The records of the 
world do not furnish one instance in 
which a repenting sinner was denied 
a pardon, who sought it as the gospel 
requires ! But very great sinners 
have come to Christ and have been 
accepted. Peter denied his Lord, 
but was forgiven. The dying thief 
was forgiven. Saul of Tarsus was a 
persecutor of the church, and yet he 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 129 

was forgiven. In the books which you 
have read, you have doubtless found 
instances (like those of Newton, Gar- 
diner, Bunyan and others) of most 
notorious and profligate sinners who 
have believed in Christ and have 
immediately rejoiced in the assurance 
of pardon. Search the world over, 
search through the dark caverns of 
hell, and you cannot find one who 
will even pretend that he earnestly 
sought the Saviour and was rejected 
by Him. 

" In the world of endless ruin, 

It shall never, Lord, be said, 
'Here's a soul that perished, suing 
For the Saviour's proffered aid.' " 

5. And I urge you to come to 
Christ now, because you may not 
have another day of grace. Life is 
very uncertain. In an hour when 



130 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

you have no thought of the approach 
of death, the hand of sickness may- 
be laid upon you, and you may be 
stretched upon a dying bed. The 
time of sickness is not the time in 
which to make ready for death. If 
your reason is not taken away, pain 
will unfit you to fix your mind on the 
great subject of your soul's salvation. 
But you may not have even the time 
of sickness in which to prepare for 
death. You may be cut down in a 
moment, by some sudden stroke, as 
others have been before you, and 
hurried, without a moment's warning, 
into the presence of your Judge ! 
There is nothing so uncertain as life. 
We walk on the verge of the grave. 
We are like soldiers in a deadly 
battle. One drops on our right 
hand, and another on our left; and 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 131 

how soon it may be our turn, we 
know not. Youth is no security. 
The young die, and you may die. 
This may be the last day that you are 
to have on the earth. Before another 
sun rises or sets you may be in the 
eternal world. Many now living will 
never see another sun-rise ; and you 
are as liable to this sudden summons 
as others. Could you answer to God 
for the deeds of your past life, short 
as it may have been ? No ! The 
great work for which you are placed 
in this world — the preparation for 
eternity — is yet to be done, and if life 
closes now, and eternity begins, you 
are without hope. 

Now review the reasons I have 
urged to induce you to submit to 
Christ. It will be easier to come now 
than at any future time ; if you stay 



132 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

where you now are you will certainly 
perish. If you come to Christ you 
can but perish ; and no one ever did 
perish who came to Christ to be 
saved. If you do not come now, there 
is no security for your life another 
day. To-morrow, it may be too 
late. 

If you are wise, you will instantly 
cast yourself upon the mediation of 
Christ. You see that you are lost 
and ruined by sin ; you can do no- 
thing to make atonement for your 
sins ; if God does not have mercy on 
you for the sake of Christ, you will 
lose your immortal soul ; but if you 
will repent and believe now, the Lord 
will have compassion upon you and 
save you. Your faith will not save 
you; your repentance will not save 
you; but God will pardon you on 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 



133 



account of the death of Christ, if 
you now come, penitent and be- 
lieving, and put your trust in the 
Saviour. 




12 



134 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR, 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Edward Reed — Ellen Gordon — Joseph Richardson 
— Conclusion, 

Before I part with the reader, I 
will mention a few cases of young 
persons whom I have known, and 
who have been awakened, as you now 
are, to see their danger, and to feel 
their need of a Saviour. 

Edward Reed was about fourteen 
years of age when he was led to feel 
that he was a great sinner in the sight 
of God. He had been a wild boy, 
and was now away from home, when 
he was convicted by the Spirit of 
God, and cried out in anguish of soul, 
" What must I do to be saved ?" For 
many days he was in such distress of 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 135 

mind that he could scarcely eat or 
sleep, and he prayed, often and ear- 
nestly, that God would have mercy 
upon him, and save him from going 
down to hell. He felt that he de- 
served to be punished, and if God 
should cut him off in his sins, and send 
him away into eternal darkness, he 
knew that it would be perfectly right. 
The anxiety which he felt for his 
soul was noticed by pious friends, 
and they talked with him, and tried 
to show him the way to the Lord 
Jesus Christ, who was able and will- 
ing to save. They prayed much with 
him, and he read his Bible and other 
good books; and the more he read 
and prayed, the better he thought he 
was growing. Because he was told 
that he must read and pray, he 
thought these prayers and this read- 



136 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

ing would make him good, and that 
God would be pleased to see him on 
his knees, and in tears. 

In a few days Edward felt less con- 
cerned about his soul than he had 
done. He thought that God had for- 
given him, as he felt so much better; 
and instead of being cast down and 
distressed, as he had been but a short 
time before, he was now quite happy 
in the hope that he had found the Sa- 
viour. He went about and told his 
young friends that he was now on the 
Lord's side, and that he should never 
go in the ways of the wicked any 
more. But the hope of Edward 
Reed was all vain. He did not rely 
on Christ for salvation. He thought 
of his tears, and his prayers, and pro- 
mises, and did not look to God to 
forgive his sins for the sake of the 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 137 

atonement which Jesus Christ had 
made. It was but a short time that 
he enjoyed any hope. He lost not 
only his anxiety about his soul, but 
his serious feelings soon passed away, 
and he was as careless and uncon- 
cerned about his soul as before he 
was awakened to a sense of his sins. 
He was soon worse than he ever had 
been ; for now he seemed to be 
ashamed to be thought serious, and 
he would make light of religion, and 
laugh at pious people, and it was 
plainly to be seen that he had become 
hardened in impenitence. This youth 
had grieved the Spirit of God, and 
he was left to fall into sin, and to 
bring shame upon himself. I knew 
him many years after this, and he 
never was again awakened by the 
Holy Spirit. He went on in sin, 

12* 



138 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

growing worse and worse, and per- 
haps before this time he has gone to 
give up his account to God ! He 
deceived his own soul, and this sad 
mistake may have been his everlast- 
ing ruin. 

Ellen Gordon was a member of 
a Sabbath-school in the little village 

of M , in the State of New 

York. At the age of twelve she was 
brought by the Spirit of God, and 
under the instructions of a pious 
teacher, to feel the evil of sin, and 
the plague of her own heart. Few 
would have thought that Ellen could 
be very much distressed on account 
of sin, so good did she appear to all 
who knew her. But when the Lord 
impressed this child with a sense of 
her sinfulness in his sight, she was 
led to see how vile the heart is 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 139 

when judged by the holy law of Hea- 
ven, and she felt that she must have 
a new heart, or she could not see 
God in peace. But Ellen was proud. 
Her friends never suspected it, but 
she had a proud heart, and she 
determined to conceal her feelings. 
She would not tell her teacher, nor 
even her own mother, that she was 
anxious about her soul, and so she 
put on a cheerful face, and tried to 
laugh, as if she felt as happy as the rest 
There was to be a party of young 
friends at the house of one of her 
companions, and when Ellen was in- 
vited, her first thought was that she 
would not go. She would stay at 
home and read her Bible and pray. 
This was a good resolution, for she 
thought the sport in which she would 
indulge, might drive away her serious 



140 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

thoughts, and she knew that she 
ought to cherish those feelings if she 
would make her peace with God. 

" And are you going to the party 
this afternoon, Ellen ?" said a light- 
hearted girl to Ellen Gordon, in the 
morning. 

She thought for a moment what to 
say. If she said " No," what reason 
could she give for staying away ? 
She w r as too proud to say, "I am 
concerned about my precious soul, 
and I must stay at home to pray." 
It would humble her too much to say 
that It would still be worse to make 
up an excuse; and so Ellen told her 
that she was going. This decided 
the point, and this inquiring sinner 
was a few hours afterwards among 
that gay company, joining in their 
mirth and folly, as light and appa- 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 141 

rently as happy as any of them. 
Poor girl ! She took cold that after- 
noon, and was sick at night. But 
that was not the greatest evil of that 
visit : in the midst of the pleasures 
of that joyous circle of children and 
youth, Ellen Gordon lost all sense of 
sin and danger. The fears of hell that 
had distressed her heart w T ere all 
driven away, and long before the 
party broke up, she was as happy as 
she seemed to be, thoughtless of death 
and sin, of heaven and hell. But she 
took a severe cold, as I said. It set- 
tled on her lungs, and in a few short 
days she was in the grave ! 

Poor Ellen Gordon ! What a 
shock it gave to the Sabbath-school, 
when they were told that she was 
dying ! Her teacher visited her, and 
towards the close of her sickness 



142 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

Ellen told her of her recent serious- 
ness, and how it all passed away 
when she went to the party ; and 
now she was dying, with no concern 
about the future ! God seemed tp 
have given her up to hardness of 
heart, and blindness of mind, and 
thus she died! O, what an end was 
that ! How many children and youth 
are thus cut off in the midst of their 
days, and hurried away to the judg- 
ment-seat of Christ ! 

These are solemn facts, and they 
are written here to show the danger 
of trifling with serious feelings. If 
you have the least desire to find the 
pardon of your sins and an interest 
in the Saviour, you should cherish 
these desires. You should devote your 
time and mind to it as the first con- 
cern, the most important business that 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 143 

ever engaged the attention of the 
young. Perhaps there are some near 
you who will laugh at you, and make 
sport of your seriousness ; and what 
if they do? Will you lose heaven 
and go to hell rather than be laughed 
at? 

Joseph Richardson was one of a 
large family of brothers and sisters; 
none of whom were religious. Worse 
than this, they were all despisers of 
religion, and some of them were 
opposers of the gospel. But Joseph 
was convinced by the Holy Spirit 
that he had a wicked heart that must 
be renewed, or he should lose his 
soul. His brothers and sisters soon 
discovered that he was in distress of 
mind, and when they charged him 
with being serious, he did not deny it, 
but plainly told them he thought it 



144 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

high time that they were all serious 7 
if they did not wish to perish in sin. 
At this they burst into a laugh, and 
asked him if he was going to turn 
priest? He replied that he had no 
thoughts of that, but he meant to turn 
from his sins, and turn to God, and 
he wished they would do the same. 
He begged them, however, if they 
would not join him in seeking Christ, 
to let him alone, as his mind was 
made up to seek the Lord till he 
found him. 

For this they only laughed at him 
the more. They would watch him; 
and when he went away to pray, they 
would follow him, and make all man- 
ner of noises to disturb him; and 
thus they tried to provoke him and 
turn him from his purpose. But it 
was all in vain. His mind was made 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 145 

up. It was a fixed purpose of heart 
with him to " strive to enter in at the 
strait gate." He took his Bible and 
read those portions of it which give 
encouragement to sinners to come to 
the Saviour. He went to his Sab- 
bath-school teacher, and sought coun- 
sel of him ; and then he went to the 
minister's study, and asked him 
"what he must do to be saved." 

Joseph continued for many days, 
and even weeks, to seek forgiveness 
for his sins. He was in deep anguish; 
for he felt that his whole life had been 
spent in sin, and that he deserved no- 
thing but to suffer for it. He could 
not sleep at night, he was so fearful 
that he should die before morning, 
and wake up in hell ! Again he went 
to the minister and begged him to 
show him the way to Christ. Nothing 
13 



146 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

was more pleasant than to have 
youth coming to him with such in- 
quiries; and he asked Joseph to tell 
him just how he felt, and then he gave 
him such directions as he thought 
were suited to his case. The con- 
versation was something like this : — 

Minister. Do you feel that you 
are justly condemned to eternal 
death? 

Joseph. Yes, sir. I have been so 
great a sinner, that I know it would 
be right for God to send me to hell : 
but I want to be saved. 

Minister. Do you feel sorry that 
you have offended God, or are you 
merely afraid that you are going to be 
punished ? 

Joseph. I have all along been very 
much afraid that I was going to 
hell, and I know I deserve to be sent 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 147 

to that dreadful place ; but now I feel 
that I am a very wicked sinner. I 
have grieved my heavenly Father, and 
I am sorry that I have offended the 
Saviour, who has died on the cross 
for me. 

Minister. You know that the Sa- 
viour died for poor sinners, and he 
is as willing to have compassion on 
you, as on any sinner in the world. 
If you are truly penitent on account 
of your sins, you may now trust in 
Jesus Christ, and rely on Him as able 
and willing to have mercy on you. 
* Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and thou shalt be saved.' Your 
-prayers will not make you any better; 
nor your tears. If you are saved, it 
will be because God is pleased to 
have mercy on you for the sake of 
Christ, who has died for you. That 



148 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

is the plan of salvation ; and if you 
are willing to be saved in that way, 
you need not perish. If you had 
offended your father, and he had pro- 
mised to forgive you when you should 
repent, would you not believe him ? 
And will you not believe that God is 
willing to do for you what he has pro- 
mised to do? The Saviour has said, 
1 Come unto me all ye that labour and 
are heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest.' And then the precious promise 
given in another part of the word of 
God, is intended for just such sinners 
as you are. ' I love them that love 
me, and they that seek me early shall 
find me.' These are the blessed in- 
vitations of the gospel, and they are 
to encourage you now to put your 
trust in the Saviour, and rely on him 
for the salvation of your soul. 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 149 

The minister felt so deep an in- 
terest in the case of this young in- 
quirer, that he put into his hand a 
narrative of a youth* who was brought 
to Christ, and asked him to read it 
with attention, and with prayer. Jo- 
seph took it home with him, and 
found that it was the case of a youth 
who had been awakened very much 
as he had been, and his feelings were 
very much like his own. It illus- 
trated, in the simplest manner, the 
nature of faith, and when Joseph saw 
that he must rely on Christ only for 



* Among the books answering to this descrip- 
tion, or suitable to a person in a like state of mind, 
are the following, all published by the American 
Sunday-school Union : The Way of Life ; The 
Great Change; Life in Earnest; The Useful 
Christian ; The Holy War ; First Principles of 
R Jigion; Sister Mary's Stories ; Hadassah, &c. 
13* 



150 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

salvation, and not trust in any thing 
that he had done himself, he was 
enabled to feel that Jesus Christ was 
just the Saviour that he needed, and 
he trusted in him for pardon. 

Then he found perfect peace to his 
soul in the humble hope that the Lord 
Jesus had accepted him as his child, 
and he at once devoted himself to the 
service of God. His heart was filled 
with love to the Saviour, and to his 
people, and he determined to live for 
Him, and if it were necessary he felt 
that he could die for Him — so pre- 
cious did Christ appear. 

A few months afterwards he made 
a public profession of religion, and 
he is now actively engaged in the 
service of his Lord and master. He 
has lived many years in the enjoy- 
ment of religion, and the longer he 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 151 

lives the more delightful does the ser- 
vice of his Redeemer become. 

And now I would leave these in- 
structions with you, my young friend, 
praying that God will bring you to 
repentance, and to faith in the pre 
cious Saviour. You know that you 
are a sinner and deserve to suffer the 
sinner's doom, and that unless you do 
repent and turn to God you will cer- 
tainly perish. You know what it is 
to repent and believe, and you can 
understand what God requires of you 
now, as well as you will understand 
it when you come to be older. It 
will never be so easy for you to come 
to Christ as it is now, and you are 
urged by all the motives that can in- 
fluence the human heart, to attend 
immediately to the concerns of your 
soul. 



152 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

If you have now been awakened to 
think seriously of eternal things, and 
to feel that you are a sinner in the 
sight of a holy God, your situation is 
most critical and dangerous. The 
Holy Spirit is now working in you to 
convince you of sin and to change 
your heart. And if you do not yield 
to the call that is now made, the 
Spirit may be withdrawn, and you 
may be left to become entirely indif- 
ferent. The preaching of the gospel 
may have no more effect upon your 
heart : the instructions of the Sab- 
bath-school may never interest you 
again. You may not read the Bible 
with any desire to know and feel its 
truths. You will not pray. Weeks 
and months and years may pass, and 
you will have no wish to find an in- 
terest in the atoning blood of the Re- 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 153 

deemer. You may be left to perish 
without ever once being awakened 
again to the things that belong to 
your everlasting peace. The Holy 
Spirit may not return to convince 
you of sin, and if the Spirit leaves 
you to visit your heart no more, you 
are lost ! for ever lost ! 

I beg of you not to give sleep to 
your eyes, nor slumber to your eye- 
lids, until you find peace with God. 
Remember that God is angry with 
the wicked every day, that he looks 
down upon you with displeasure 
every moment that you live in sin, 
and if you die as you now are, you 
can never, never see God ! 

Now you are in life and health, but 
before another day has gone by, you 
may be in the world of wo ! Go, then, 
at once, and fall down on your knees 



154 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

before God, in some secret place, and 
confess all your sins. Believe that 
Jesus Christ is willing to save even 
the chief of sinners, and in his aton- 
ing blood you shall find perfect peace 
and everlasting life. 

Seize the kind promise while it waits ; 
And march to Zion's heavenly gates ; 
Believe, and take the promised rest ! 
Obey, and be for ever blest ! 




155 



THE DOOMED MAN. 

There is a time, we know not when, 
A point, we know not where, 

That marks the destiny of men 
To glory or despair. 

There is a line, by us unseen, 

That crosses every path ; 
The hidden boundary between 

God's patience and his wrath. 

To pass that limit is to die, 

To die as if by stealth ; 
It does not quench the beaming eye, 

Or pale the glow of health. 

The conscience may be still at ease, 

The spirits light and gay ; 
That which is pleasing still may please, 

And care be thrust away. 



156 GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 

But on that forehead God has set, 

Indelibly, a mark, 
Unseen by man, for man as yet 

Is blind and in the dark. 

And yet the doomed man's path below, 
Like Eden, may have bloomed ; 

He did not, does not, will not know 
Or feel that he is doomed. 

He knows, he feels, that all is well, 

And every fear is calmed ; 
He lives, he dies, he wakes in hell, 

Not only doomed, but damned. 

where is this mysterious bourne, 
By which our path is crossed ; 

Beyond which, God himself hath sworn, 
That he who goes is lost ? 

How far may we go on in sin ? 
How long will God forbear ? 



GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR. 157 

Where does hope end ? and where begin 
The confines of despair ? 

An answer from the skies is sent : 

Ye that from God depart ! 
While it is called to-day, repent! 

And harden not your heart, 

«/• JL » 




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